THE 


VOICE  IN  SPEAKING 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN  OF    /]  ^  2  / 

EMMA   SEILER 

MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY  AND  AUTHOB  OP 
"THE  VOICE  IN  SINGING" 


W.    H.    FURNESS    D.D. 

IIEII  OF  TIIE  AMEEICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY 


PHILADELPHIA 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO. 

1875 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


PN 
54  b 

CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

INTRODUCTION  .  5 


CHAPTEK   I. 
ACOUSTICS  IN  GENERAL  .     11 


CHAPTEK  II. 

THE  VOWELS    .  .    23 


.CHAPTEK   III. 

THE  CONSONANTS  . 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  VOCAL  TONES G2 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  TIMBRE  OF  THE  VOICE 85 

CHAPTER  VI. 

REACH  OF  THE  VOICE 95 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  REFLECTION  OF  SOUND 102 

3 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

PAOB 

FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING    .  131 


CHAPTER  IX. 
MODULATION     .         131 

APPENDIX. 

CLERGYMAN'S  SORE  THROAT,  BY  CARL  SEILER,  M.D.  155 


INTEODTJOTIOS'. 


SINCE  the  publication  of  "  The  Voice  in  Sing- 
ing," I  have  frequently  been  applied  to  for  in- 
formation and  instruction  by  teachers  of  elocution 
and  by  persons  whose  callings  require  them  to 
speak  in  public.  My  attention  has  thus  been 
turned  to  the  action  of  the  Voice  in  Speaking ; 
and  occasion  has  been  afforded  me  to  pursue  more 
thoroughly,  with  the  assistance  of  my  son,  Dr. 
Carl  Seiler,  the  study  of  the  natural  laws  under- 
lying these  sounds.  The  results  which  we  have 
arrived  at  are  given  in  the  first  part  of  this  little 
work. 

As  at  the  present  day,  with  advancing  intel- 
lectual culture,  jt^becomes  more  and  more  the  aim 
of  individuals  to  give  a  higher  and  more  graceful 
character  to  the  various  modes  of  expressing  the 
inner  life,  so  was  it  likewise,  as  history  bears  wit- 
ness, among  the  most  cultivated  nations  of  ancient 
times.  In  every  civilized  people  the  endeavor 
2  5 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

to  perfect  the  manner  of  speaking  is  always  es- 
pecially conspicuous.  Of  all  our  ways  of  giving 
utterance  to  the  life  within,  Speech  is  the  most 
important.  It  is  the  minister  of  our  collective  in- 
tellectual being.  This  it  is  that  raises  man  above 
all  other  living  creatures  and  renders  him  capable 
of  constant  and  illimitable  progress,  making  the 
conquests  of  one  the  property  of  all. 

So  long  ago  as  the  fifth  century  before  Christ 
there  were  schools  in  Greece  in  which  the  Art  of 
Speaking  was  taught.  In  the  convent  schools  of 
the  Middle  Ages  it  was  carefully  cultivated,  just 
as  at  the  present  day  it  is  made  a  branch  of 
study  in  most  of  the  educational  institutions  of 
Europe. 

But,  although  the  Art  of  Speaking  has  been  so 
long  taught,  there  has  been  no  guiding  principle 
in  the  work  of  instruction.  The  sole  reliance  has 
been  a  more  or  less  obscure  sense  of  the  beautiful. 
The  examples  of  distinguished  orators  and  dra- 
matic artists  have  alone  been  looked  to.  The 
method  of  teaching  has  been  purely  empirical ; 
and  the  true  and  the  beautiful  in  speaking  have 
been  unconsciously  reached  by  renowned  speakers 
and  actors  only  by  the  sure  instinct  of  genius. 


INTRODUCTION.  1 

In  works  upon  Elocution  attention  is  almost 
exclusively  given  to  the  so-called  Modulation  of 
the  Voice,  to  Expression  and  whatever  pertains 
thereto ;  while  sonorousness  and  fulness  of  voice 
are  regarded  as  incidental  gifts  of  Nature,  admit- 
ting neither  of  modification  nor  of  improvement. 
As  to  distinctness  and  reach  of  voice, — these,  it 
is  considered,  are  attainable  only  by  the  exertion 
of  mere  physical  force. 

It  is  only  recently  that  Science  has  succeeded 
in  discovering  and  elucidating  the  natural  laws 
upon  which  all  the  sounds  of  the  human  voice 
depend.  These  laws  of  Mature  are,  in  both  sexes 
and  in  all  mankind  of  every  age  and  tongue,  un- 
changeably the  same,  irrespective  of  the  manner 
in  which  these  sounds  may  be  combined  in  dif- 
ferent languages.  Every  normal  human  being  is 
by  nature  capable  of  forming  all  the  sounds  that 
occur  in  the  various  tongues  and  dialects  of  man- 
kind, although  all  the  sounds  capable  of  being 
made  by  the  voice  do  not  appear  in  any  one 
language. 

With  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  laws  upon 
which  melody,  fulness,  distinctness,  reach  of  voice, 
etc.,  depend,  it  becomes  possible  to  communicate 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

these  qualities  to  voices  to  which  they  do  not 
appear  naturally  to  belong. 

Prof.  Helmholtz,  in  his  work  "  Die  Lehre  von 
den  Tonempfindungen,"  in  which  are  published  his 
investigations  of  the  vowel  sounds,  was  the  first 
to  call  attention  to  the  musical  properties  of  the 
speaking  sounds  of  the  human  voice.  But  al- 
though, since  the  appearance  of  that  great  work, 
Acoustics,  physically  and  physiologically  con- 
sidered, have  been  made  the  subject  of  new  and 
diligent  study,  and  much  valuable  information 
has  been  obtained  in  this  department  of  natural 
science,  yet,  with  a  single  exception,*  no  attempt 
has  thus  far  been  made,  with  favorable  results, 
to  ascertain,  for  the  perfecting  of  the  power 
of  speech,  the  musical  character  of  consonant 
sounds.f 

It  was  with  this  in  view  that,  with  the  aid  of 
my  son,  I  began  the  preparation  of  this  book,  the 
labor  of  which  was  at  first  not  a  little  increased 

*  Dr.  Oscar  Wolf:  Sprache  und  Ohr. 

f  Jacob  Grimm,  the  most  eminent  of  German  students  of 
language,  disposes  of  the  influence  of  physical  Acoustics  in 
the  improvement  of  the  speaking  voice  with  the  jesting 
remark  that  "  the  air  was  too  thin  a  thing  for  him." 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

by  the  many  obscurities  and  contradictions  that 
tended  to  lead  us  astray.  In  investigating  the 
musical  qualities  of  the  sounds  of  Speech,  we 
made  use  of  a  series  of  tuning-forks  and  reso- 
nators, and  had  advanced  a  considerable  way  in 
our  inquiries  when  there  appeared  the  valuable 
work  by  Dr.  Wolf,  of  Frankfort,  just  referred 
to,  in  which  this  portion  of  our  general  subject 
is  treated  with  like  results :  one  of  many  instances, 
by  the  way,  of  the  occurrence  of  the  same  thought 
coincidently  to  different  persons  in  different  places 
and  of  the  adoption  of  similar  methods  of  devel- 
oping it. 

Although  Dr.  Wolf  has  studied  the  musical 
qualities  of  the  Consonants  only  with  reference 
to  morbid  conditions  of  the  sense  of  hearing,  he 
has  nevertheless  pursued  his  inquiries  in  the  same 
way  as  ourselves,  and,  with  slight  variations,  has 
arrived  at  the  same  conclusions. 

Dr.  Wolf  has  had  the  advantage  of  the  Over- 
tone Apparatus,  recently  invented  by  Appun  in 
Hanau,  by  which  the  labor  of  the  inquiry  was 
materially  lightened.  The  fact,  however,  that, 
pursuing  this  study  independently  of  each  other 
and  with  different  aids,  we  have  come  to  so  close 
2* 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

an  agreement  in  our  results,  is  no  slight  testimony 
to  their  correctness. 

As  Dr.  Wolf  was  the  first  to  publish  his  work, 
to  him  is  due  the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  dis- 
cover and  describe  the  musical  character  of  the 
Consonants. 

This  is,  however,  only  a  part  of  the  task  un- 
dertaken in  this  book,  which  is  to  investigate 
specially  those  functions  of  our  vocal  organs  not 
hitherto  understood,  and  to  elucidate  the  results 
of  these  investigations  as  clearly  as  possible,  and 
so  to  open  a  road  for  the  improvement  of  our 
mode  .of  speaking. 


THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ACOUSTICS   IN   GENERAL. 

TN  order  to  be  able  to  give  a  clear  idea  of  the 
interesting  processes  of  the  organs  of  the 
human  voice  in  the  act  of  speaking,  we  must  go 
back,  at  the  risk  of  repeating  what  is  well  known, 
to  Acoustics  in  general,  as  elucidated  by  Prof. 
Helinholtz. 

The  movements  of  the  air,  which  convey  sound 
to  our  ears,  come  to  us  in  two  forms,  as  Tone^ 
and  as  Noise.*  The  whistling  of  the  wind,  the 
splashing  of  water,  the  rattling  of  a  wagon,  are 
noises.  Musical  instruments  give  us  tones.  When, 
however,  many  untuned  instruments  sound  to- 
gether, or  when  all  the  keys  of  a  piano  within 
an  octave  are  struck  at  the  same  time,  then  it  is 

*  The  Voice  in  Singing,  by  E.  Seiler. 

11 


12  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

a  noise  that  we  hear.  Tones  are  therefore  more 
simple  and  regular  than  noises.  The  ear  perceives 
both  by  means  of  the  agitation  of  the  air  that  sur- 
rounds us.  In  the  case  of  noise,  the  agitation  of  the 
air  is  an  irregularly  changing  motion.  In  musical 
sounds,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  movement  of 
the  air  in  a  continuously  regular  manner,  which 
must  be  caused  by  a  similar  movement  in  the  body 
which  gives  the  sound.  These  so-called  periodical 
movements  of  the  sounding  body,  rising,  falling, 
and  repeated  at  equal  intervals,  are  named  vibra- 
tions. The  length  of  the  interval  elapsing  between 
one  movement  and  the  next  succeeding  repetition 
of  the  same  movement  is  called  the  duration  of 
vibration,  or  period  of  motion. 

A  Tone  is  produced  by  a  periodical  motion  of 
the  sounding  body ;  a  Noise,  by  motions  not  peri- 
odical. We  can  see  and  feel  the  sounding  vibra- 
tions of  stationary  bodies.  The  eye  can  perceive 
the  vibrations  of  a  string,  and  a  person  playing 
on  a  clarionet,  an  oboe,  or  any  similar  instrument, 
feels  the  vibration  of  the  reed  in  the  mouth-piece. 
How  the  movements  of  the  air,  agitated  by  the 
vibrations  of  the  stationary  body,  are  felt  by  the 
ear  as  Tone,  Helmholtz  illustrates  by  the  motion  of 


ACOUSTICS  IN  GENERAL.  \% 

waves  of  water,  in  the  following  way.  Imagine  a 
stone  thrown  into  perfectly  smoqth  water.  Around 
the  point  of  the  surface  struck  by  the  stone  there 
is  instantly  formed  a  little  ring,  which,  moving 
outward  equally  in  all  directions,  spreads  to  an 
ever-enlarging  circle.  Corresponding  with  this 
ring,  sound-waves  go  out  in  the  air  from  an  agi- 
tated point,  and  enlarge  in  all  directions  as  far  as 
the  limits  of  the  atmosphere  permit.  What  goes 
on  in  the  air  is  essentially  the  same  that  takes 
place  on  the  surface  of  the  water ;  the  chief  differ- 
ence only  is,  that  sound  spreads  out  in  the  spacious 
sea  of  air  like  a  sphere,  while  the  waves  on  the 
surface  of  the  water  can  extend  only  like  a  circle. 
At  the  surface,  the  mass  of  the  water  is  free  to  rise 
upward,  where  it  is  compressed  and  forms  billows 
or  crests.  In  the  interior  of  the  aerial  ocean  the 
air  must  be  condensed,  because  it  cannot  rise ;  for, 
in  fact,  the  condensation  of  the  sound-wave  corre- 
sponds with  the  crest,  while  the  rarefaction  of  the 
sound-wave  corresponds  with  the  sinus  of  the 
water-wave.*  The  water-waves  press  continually 
onwards  into  the  distance,  but  the  particles  of  the 
water  move  up  and  down  periodically  within 
*  Tyndall. 


14  THE    VOICE   TN  SPEAKING. 

narrow  limits.  One  may  easily  see  these  two 
movements  by  observing  a  small  piece  of  wood 
floating  on  water:  the  wood  moves  just  as  the 
particles  of  water  in  contact  with  it  move.  It  is 
not  carried  along  with  the  rings  of  the  wave, 
but  is  tossed  up  and  down,  and  at  last  remains 
in  the  same  place  where  it  was  at  first.  In  a 
similar  way,  as  the  particles  of  water  around  the 
wood  are  moved  by  the  ring  only  in  passing,  so 
the  waves  of  sound  spread  onwards  through  new 
strata  of  air,  while  the  particles  of  air,  tossed  to 
and  fro  by  these  waves  as  they  pass,  are  never 
really  moved  by  them  from  their  first  place.  A 
drop  falling  upon  the  surface  of  the  water  creates 
in  it  only  a  single  agitation ;  but  when  a  regular 
series  of  drops  falls  upon  it,  every  drop  produces  a 
ring  on  the  water,  every  ring  passes  over  the  sur- 
face just  like  its  predecessor,  and  is  followed  by 
other  rings  in  the  same  way.  In  this  way  there 
is  produced  on  the  water  a  regular  series  of  rings 
ever  expanding.  As  many  drops  as  fall  into  the 
water  in  a  second,  so  many  waves  will  in  a  second 
strike  a  floating  piece  of  wood,  which  will  be  just  so 
many  times  tossed  up  and  down,  and  thus  have  a 
periodical  motion,  the  period  of  which  corresponds 


ACOUSTICS  IN  GENERAL.  J5 

with  the  interval  at  which  the  drops  fall.  In  like 
manner  a  sounding  body  periodically  moved  pro- 
duces a  similar  periodic  movement:  first  of  the 
air,  and  then  of  the  drum  in  the  ear ;  the  duration 
of  the  vibrations  constituting  the  movement  must 
be  the  same  in  the  ear  as  in  the  sounding  body. 

The  sounds  produced  by  such  periodic  agita-* 
tionsof  the  air  have  three  properties:  1.  Strength; 
2.  Pitch  ;  3.  Timbre.  „ 

The  Strength  of  the  tone  depends  on  the 
greater  or  less  breadth  of  its  vibrations, — that  is, 
of  the  waves  of  sound ;  the  higher  or  lower  pitch 
of  the  tones,  upon  the  number  of  vibrations, — that 
is,  the  tones  are  always  higher  the  greater  the 
number,  and  lower  the  fewer. 

A  second  is  used  as  the  unit  of  time,  and  by 
number  of  vibrations  is  understood  the  number 
which  the  sounding  body  gives  forth  in  a  second 
of  time.  The  tones  used  in  music  lie  between 
40  and  4000  vibrations  per  second  in  the  extent 
<>f  -i -veil  octaves.  The  tones  which  we  can  per- 
ceive lie  between  16  and  38,000  vibrations  to  the 
second  within  the  compass  of  eleven  octaves.  The 

one-lined  a  I  d\    ^    I  from  which  all  instruments 


1(5  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

are  tuned,  has  now  usually  440  to  450  vibrations 
to  the  second  in  England  and  America.  The 
French  Academy,  however,  has  recently  estab- 
lished for  the  same  note  435  vibrations,  and  this 
lower  tuning  has  already  been  universally  intro- 
duced in  Germany.* 

The  octave  of  a  tone  has  in  the  same  time 
exactly  twice  as  many  vibrations  as  the  tone  itself. 
The  fifth  above  the  first  octave  has  three  times  as 
many;  the  second  octave,  four  times;  the  major 
third  above  the  second  octave,  five  times;  the 
fifth  of  the  same  octave,  six  times;  and  the  minor 
seventh  of  the  same  octave,  seven  times.  In  no- 
tation it  would  be  thus,  taking  as  the  lowest  note 
C,  for  example : 


|  etc. 


3: 2        3 4~tf 5        6        7        8       16      32 

*  Radau,  in  his  "  L'Acoustique  ou  les  Phenomenes  du 
Son,"  states  the  difference  between  the  concert  pitch  and 
the  natural  pitch  to  be,  as  is  shown  in  the  following  scale, 
within  an  octave : 

Concert  Pitch  258f     290     325*    345*    387*     435     488*    517* 

in  Germany       A . i I 

and  France,  ^ 


\(\)  |  I        J~    J       d       ^       lg*~ 

°y  JL  J  ^  ^ 

Natural  Pitch.  258J     291     323*    344*     388     431*     485     517* 


ACOUSTICS  IN  GENERAL.  J7 

The  figures  below  the  lines  denote  how  many 
times  greater  the  number  of  vibrations  is  than 
that  of  the  first  tone.  In  the  first  octave  we  find 
only  one  tone ;  in  the  second,  two ;  in  the  third, 
all  the  tones  of  the  major  chord  with  the  minor 
seventh.  In  the  fourth  octave  we  find  eight 
tones,  which,  however,  we  divide  in  our  system 
of  music  into  twelve.  Likewise,  there  are  in 
the  fifth  octave  sixteen  tones,  which  number  is 
doubled  in  the  sixth.  Hence  the  Greeks,  follow- 
ing the  natural  laws  of  Acoustics,  had  quarter 
and  eighth  tones,  which  we,  in  our  moderated 
scale,  have  done  away  with.* 

The  production  of  a  higher  pitch  in  a  tone  de- 
pends in  all  sounding  bodies  upon  the  uniform  law 
which  we  may  observe  in  the  strings  of  musical 
instruments,  whose  tones  ascend  either  by  greater 
tension,  by  shortening,  or  through  a  diminution  of 
the  density  of  the  strings.  It  is  the  same  with 
sounding  air-columns,  as  in  organ-pipes  and  flutes, 

*  So  long  as  melody  alone  was  aimed  at  in  music,  and 
was  accompanied  only  by  octaves,  the  tones  preserved  their 
natural  purity.  But  with  the  rise  of  harmony  (the  accord  of 
different  tones)  there  was  rendered  necessary  a  more  regu- 
lar system,  to  which  the  purity  of  the  tones  was  sacrificed. 


18  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

the  vocal  cords  of  the  human  voice,  and  all  tone- 
producing  bodies. 

Strength  and  Pitch  are  the  first  two  properties 
of  Sound.  The  third  property  of  Sound  is  the 
Timbre.  When  we  hear  one  and  the  same  tone 
sounded  successively  upon  a  violin,  trumpet,  clari- 
onet, oboe,  piano,  by  a  human  voice,  etc.,  although 
the  tone  is  of  the  same  strength  and  pitch,  yet  the 
character  of  it  is  different,  and  we  very  easily  dis- 
tinguish the  instrument  from  Avhich  it  comes.  The 
changes  of  the  timbre  seem  to  be  infinitely  mani- 
fold, for,  not  to  mention  the  fact  that  we  have  a 
multitude  of  different  musical  instruments  all  of 
which  can  give  the  same  tone,  and  that  different 
instruments  of  the  same  kind  as  well  as  different 
voices  show  certain  differences  of  Timbre,  the  very 
same  tone  can  be  given  upon  one  and  the  same 
instrument,  or  by  one  and  the  same  voice,  with 
many  differences  of  Timbre.  Since  now  the 
strength  of  the  tone  is  determined  by  the  breadth 
(amplitude)  of  the  vibrations,  and  the  pitch  by 
their  number,  so  the  varieties  of  Timbre  are  owing 
to  the  different  forms  of  the  sound-waves;  for, 
as  the  surface  of  the  water  is  stirred  differently  by 
the  falling  into  it  of  a  stone?  by  the  blowing  over 


ACOUSTICS  IN  GENERAL.  19 

it  of  the  wind,  and  by  the  passing  through  it  of  a 
ship,  etc.,  so  the  movements  of  the  air  take  differ- 
ent shapes  from  sounding  bodies.  The  movement 
proceeding  from  the  string  of  a  violin  over  which 
the  bow  is  drawn  is  different  from  that  caused  by 
the  hammer  of  a  piano  or  by  a  clarionet. 

That  Timbre  is  dependent  on  the  form  of  the 
vibrations  is  confirmed  by  Helmholtz,  and  ac- 
knowledged as  so  far  correct  that  every  different 
timbre  requires  a  different  vibratory  form ;  but 
different  forms  sometimes  correspond  to  nearly 
the  same  timbre.  We  have  learned  by  the  ste- 
reoscope that  we  perceive  two  different  views  of 
every  object,  and  that  we  compose  a  third  one 
from  those  two.  In  like  manner  the  ear  per- 
ceives different  tones  which  come  to  our  con- 
sciousness only  as  one  tone. 

It  is  in  general  very  difficult,  especially  in  the 
case  of  the  human  voice,  to  distinguish  these 
single  parts  of  tone,  because  we  are  accustomed  to 
take  the  impressions  of  the  external  world  with- 
out analyzing  them,  and  only  for  the  sake  of  their 
practical  utility. 

But  when  we  are  once  convinced  of  the  exist- 
ence of  partial  tones,  we  can,  if  we  concentrate 


20  THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 

our  attention,  also  distinguish  them.*  The  ear 
hears,  then,  not  only  that  tone  the  pitch  of  which 
is  determined,  as  we  have  shown,  by  the  number 
of  its  vibrations,  but  a  whole  series  of  tones  be- 
sides, which  are  named  "the  Harmonics,  or  over- 
tones" of  the  tone,  which  are  arranged  in  a  certain 
order  above  the  first  or  fundamental  tone,  which 
is  generally  the  strongest. 

Helmholtz  has  shown  that  all  sounds  have 
overtones,  which  are  a  production  of  sound  form- 
ing itself  in  the  air.  But  to  dwell  upon  this  point 
here  would  lead  us  too  far  away.  The  series  of 
these  overtones  has  for  each  perfect  musical  tone  the 
same  order  which  has  already  been  given  (p.  16). 
Imperfect  musical  tones  contain  so-called  inhar- 
monic overtones,  which  lie  close  together  higher 
than  the  harmonic  overtones,  and  hence  cause  the 
lower  harmonic  overtones  to  be  weak  or  to  dis- 
appear altogether.  The  different  timbre  of  tones 
thus  depends  upon  the  different  forms  of  the 

*  "When  we  strike  strongly  on  the  piano  the  low  contra 

C  fig:  I  and  press  the  pedal  at  the  same  time,  and 

•^       then  silence  the  string  of  the  struck  note  with 

the  finger,  we  hear  quite  plainly  several  overtones  as  soon 

as  the  fundamental  tone  ceases  to  overpower  them. 


ACOUSTICS  IN  GENERAL.  21 

vibrations,  whence  arise  various  relations  of  the 
fundamental  tone  to  the  overtones,  as  they  vary 
in  strength  and  number.  The  mast  thorough 
inquiries  have  led  to  the  following  results,  of  the 
first  importance  in  every  formation  of  tone :  that 
the  appropriate  form  of  the  vibratory  waves,  which 
is  the  most  agreeable  to  the  ear,  as  well  as  the 
fullest,  softest,  and  most  beautiful  timbre  which  cor- 
responds to  that  form,  is  'produced  when  the  fun- 
damental tone  and  its  overtones  so  sound  that 
the  fundamental  tone  and  the  overtones  are  per- 
ceived together,  the  former  most  strongly,  while  the 
latter  are  heard  more  and  more  faintly  in  the  inter- 
vals of  the  major  chord  with  the  minor  seventh,  so 
that  with  the  fundamental  tone  still  further  sound 
seven  overtones.  If  the  higher  harmonic  overtones 
grow  stronger  and  even  overpower  the  fundamental 
tone,  the  sound  grows  shrill,  but  when  the  dis- 
cordant overtones  lying  close  together,  higher  than 
the  tones  just  named,  overpower  the  fundamental 
tone,  the  timbre  becomes  sharp  and  disagreeable. 
In  bass  voices  which  use  too  great  an  amount  of 
breath,  the  overtones  up  to  the  sixteenth  are 
sometimes  heard,  which  gives  such  voices  a  harsh 
and  disagreeable  timbre.  But  as  the  tones  of 
3* 


22  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

different  voices  have  their  harmonic  overtones  that 
properly  belong  to  them,  so  every  singing  as  well 
as  every  speaking  voice  has  its  characteristic  tim- 
bre,— i.e.  its  peculiar  ring  by  which  we  distinguish 
it  from  other  voices.*  Every  voice  has  one,  often 
two  overtones,  which  predominate  in  every  tone; 
and  this  it  is  that  gives  the  voice  its  peculiar 
quality.  This  peculiarity  is  due  to  the  particular 
form  of  the  cavity  of  the  mouth. 

*  The  Voice  in  Singing. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  VOWELS. 

nriHE  vocal  organ  in  man  is  a  musical  instiu- 
ment,  which  is  commonly  compared  with  a 
so-called  reed  instrument  as  we  see  it  in  organ- 
pipes.  The  lungs  are  the  bellows,  the  windpipe 
is  the  feeding-pipe,  the  larynx  with  the  tone-gener- 
ating vocal  cords  represents  the  reed  instrument, 
and  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  the  resonance-tube. 
Among  all  musical  instruments,  however,  there  is 
no  one  that,  like  the  vocal  organ  of  man,  com- 
bines in  itself  the  peculiarities  of  them  all,  no  one 
that  even  approaches  it  in  perfection,  or  is  capable 
of  such  a  vast  and  delicate  variety  of  tones.  But 
what  distinguishes  the  organ  of  the  human  voice 
from  all  other  instruments  is  the  extraordinary 
rapidity  and  accuracy  of  its  movements :  not  only 
do  the  vocal  cords  change  their  action  and  the 
degree  of  their  tension  with  every  diiferent  grade 
of  tone,  but  all  the  parts  of  the  cavity  of  the 
mouth  put  themselves  in  varying  relations  to  one 

23 


24  THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

another  with  the  slightest  change  of  a  sound. 
As  every  syllable  which  we  utter  consists  of 
several  sounds,  the  tuning  of  the  cavity  of  the 
mouth  must,  even  for  the  shortest  syllable,  change 
several  times.  Of  this  ceaseless  activity  of  the 
vocal  instrument  in  speaking  we  may  easily  satisfy 
ourselves  by  simply  observing  the  movement  of 
the  lips  and  lower  jaw  of  a  person  speaking,  and 
by  considering  how  much  activity  of  the  vocal 
organ  this  movement  implies. 

The  sounds  we  make  in  speaking  consist  of 
tones  and  noises.  The  noises  and  characteristic 
tones  of  the  speaking  sounds,  as  we  hear  them  in 
whispering,  are  formed  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth, 
and  are  supported  in  speaking  aloud  by  the  tones 
of  the  larynx.  Speech  thus  requires  a  very  com- 
plicated mechanism,  as  it  results  from  the  com- 
bined working  of  two  very  different  actions  of  our 
vocal  organs. 

About  ten  years  ago,  Prof.  Helmholtz,  in  his 
"  Lehre  von  den  Tonempfindungen,"  published  his 
scientific  investigations  of  the  vowel  sounds.  He 
found,  for  instance,  that  in  every  vowel  sound  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  is  tuned  to  a  certain  definite 
tone  by  the  changes  of  its  several  parts,  tongue, 


THE   VOWELS.  25 

lips,  etc.,  and  by  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  larynx, 
and  that  this  tone  is  wholly  independent  of  age  or 
sex,  and  is  always  the  same,  by  whatever  musical 
tone  produced,  or  by  whatever  action  of  the  vocal 
cords  accompanied.  What  the  cavity  of  the  mouth 
in  a  child  lacks  in  respect  of  room  is  supplied  in  a 
grown  person  by  a  greater  closing  of  the  aperture 
of  the  mouth,  so  that  the  resonance  is  the  same  in 
both  cases.  Only  the  different  shades  of  the  vowel, 
as  pronounced  in  different  dialects  and  languages, 
change  the  pitch  of  the  peculiar  characteristic  tone 
of  the  vowel.* 

Thus    it    makes    no    difference    whether,   for 

example,  the  vowel  o  be  spoken  with  the  note 

r  Jj>        — =3  The  tone  with  which  the  air  in 

*          :&     the  mouth  accords  will  be  the 

same,  whether  it  be  a  man  or  a  child  who  speaks  it. 


Vowel  sound 

Jfe£ 
^£  —  :    =  Vowel  sound                ...ip^fe 

^Kefnote 

Overtones            rg:                  1     Overtones 
Keynote 

*  This  tone  is  not  an  overtone,  as  it  is  universally  repre- 
sented. Even  the  most  acute  investigators  have  not  hitherto 
regarded  the  voice  in  speaking  in  its  true  light,  as  the 
result  of  two  different  actions  working  together. 


26  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

Though  the  vowel  sounds  in  German  are  sus- 
ceptible in  pronunciation  of  but  little  change,  yet 
the  following  tables  indicate  variations  due  to 
the  different  localities  in  which  the  investigation 
of  this  subject  has  been  pursued ;  but  in  English, 
where  every  vowel  undergoes  so  many  variations 
in  pronunciation,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  fix  the 
precise  pitch  of  its  proper  tone.  This,  however, 
is  not  important,  the  chief  point  being  that  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  tunes  itself  for  every  vowel 
to  a  certain  fixed  tone,  which  gives  it  its  char- 
acteristic clang. 

The  following  are  the  tones  to  Avhich  the  cavity 
of  the  mouth  is  tuned  in  the  sounds  of  the  different 
vowels  as  they  have  been  ascertained  by  Helm- 
holtz  and  Donders,  and  as  they  are  set  down  in 
"Die  Lehre  von  den  Tonempfindungen."  There- 
with are  given  also  the  results  of  our  investiga- 
tions. 

I.  Helmholtz. 


The  results  No.  in.  are  given  according  to  the 
American  orchestra  pitch,  which  is  about  half  a 
tone  higher  than  the  European.  Helmholtz  saysf 
that  the  vowels  u,  o,  a,  have  only  one  tone,  while 
the  vowels  ai,  e}  i}  o,  u,  have  two  very  distinct 
tones,|  and  this  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  in 
the  case  of  the  latter  vowels  a  sort  of  enclosure  is 
formed  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth,  dividing  it  into 
two  spaces,  each  of  which  keeps  its  own  pitch.  He 
compares  this  form  of  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  to 
a  flask,  the  neck  of  which  corresponds  with  the 

*  I  as  it  is  spoken  in  the  English  word  ring. 
f  Lehre  von  den  Tonempfindungen. 

J  It  should  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  by  the  reader  that 
the  examples  given  are  taken  from  the  German  language. 


28  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

tongue  and  lips  in  the  front  part  of  the  mouth, 
and  the  body  of  it  with  the  back  part.* 

Donders,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  foregoing  scale, 
gives  for  each  vowel  only  one  proper  tone,  and 
neither  I  nor  my  son  was  able,  in  the  vowels  ai, 
e,  i,  b,  u,  to  distinguish  the  two  tones  claimed  for 
them  by  Helmholtz,  either  by  the  unassisted  ear 
or  by  the  resonators  expressly  made  for  the  pur- 
pose and  consisting  of  two  globes  shaped  like  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  as  this  disposes  itself  for  ai, 
e,  i,  d,  and  u.  As  only  the  size,  but  not  the  form 
of  a  hollow  globe,  has  influence  upon  the  number 
of  vibrations  of  its  proper  tone,  so  our  resonators, 
connected  with  each  other  by  a  narrow  opening, 
gave  a  tone  corresponding  to  that  of  the  two  hol- 

*  In  the  investigation  of  these  facts,  Helmholtz  made 
use  of  a  row  of  tuning-forks  and  resonators.  He  held 
one  after  the  other  while  sounding  before  his  mouth, 
distinctly  articulating  the  vowels.  As  soon  as  the  cavity 
of  the  mouth  was  in  accord  with  the  vibrating  tuning-fork, 
the  latter  began  to  sound  more  strongly ;  and  so  it  was  with 
the  resonators.  After  he  had  thus  found  the  proper  tones 
of  the  vowels,  he  attempted  to  imitate  the  vowel  sounds 
artificially,  which  he  succeeded  in  doing  tolerably  plainly 
in  the  case  of  a,  o,  and  u,  but  with  the  others  only  approx- 
imately, because  the  noises  which  accompany  the  vowel 
sounds  could  not  be  imitated. 


THE  VOWELS.  29 

low  globes  taken  together;  and  not  until  the  open- 
ing between  the  two  was  entirely  closed — which, 
however,  never  happens  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth 
when  pronouncing  the  said  vowel  sounds — could 
each  globe  be  set  vibrating  by  itself. 

To  the  vowel  o,  as  in  the  German  '  Voter*  or 
the  English  'father,'  corresponds  a  funnel-shaped 
form  of  the  cavity  of  the  mouth,  enlarging  upward 
from  the  larynx  with  tolerable  regularity,  whereby 
the  lips  open  wide,  the  tip  of  the  tongue  is  lightly 
pressed  against  the  lower  teeth,  and  the  root  of  the 
tongue  is  somewhat  raised. 

In  uttering  the  vowel  e,  as  in  the  German  'Set? 
or  the  English  'may,'  the  lips  are  not  so  far  apart 
as  in  the  case  of  a;  the  opening  of  the  mouth  is 
more  like  a  slit,  as  its  corners  are  somewhat  drawn 
back;  the  tip  of  the  tongue  presses  against  the 
lower  teeth,  and  the  body  of  the  tongue  against 
the  roof  of  the  mouth,  in  such  a  way,  however,  as  to 
form  a  tubular  opening  between  it  and  the  tongue. 
The  root  of  the  tongue  is  drawn  somewhat  down, 
so  that  a  second  smaller  space  is  made  in  the  back 
of  the  mouth,  which  is  connected  with  that  in  front 
by  the  tube-like  opening  we  have  just  described. 

In  forming  the  vowel  i,  as  in  the  German 
4 


30  THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

'Ring'  or  the  English  'ring,'  the  slit-shaped 
opening  of  the  mouth  is  narrower  and  longer  than 
in  e;  the  back  of  the  tongue  presses  rather  more 
broadly  against  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  the  front 
space  of  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  becomes  smaller 
and  the  back  space  greater,  while  the  larynx  is 
raised,  and  the  tube-shaped  opening  between  the 
tongue  and  the  roof  of  the  mouth  is  longer.  In 
the  case  of  the  vowel  o,  as  in  the  German  or 
English  'So,'  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  is  narrowed 
in  front  by  the  lips,  and  the  opening  of  the 
mouth  is  round.  The  tongue  lies  entirely  flat, 
and  the  root  of  the  tongue  is  drawn  back  against 
the  palate,  while  the  larynx  is  drawn  downward 
in  order  to  render  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  as 
spacious  as  possible.  In  making  the  vowel  u, 
as  in  the  German  'Hut?  or  the  English  'boot' 
the  mouth  is  less  open  and  less  round  than  in 
o,  the  lips  are  set  closer  to  the  teeth,  and  the 
back  part  of  the  tongue  touches  the  palate  lightly, 
so  that  the  air  in  the  nasal  cavity  is  made  to 
vibrate  in  accord,  which  gives  to  the  vowel  u  its 
peculiarly  dull  sound.  The  cavity  of  the  mouth 
is  narrowest  in  the  case  of  u,  and  broadest  in 
that  of  a. 


THE   VOWELS.  31 

The  so-called  Umlaute,  in  German,  a,  o,  w,  as 
also  the  different  shades  of  the  vowels  as  they  are 
made  in  the  English  language,  are  formed  by  a 
disposition  of  the  mouth  corresponding  as  closely 
as  possible  to  that  by  which  the  vowels  of  which 
they  are  composed  are  formed.  Thus,  the  tongue 
in  a,  as  in  the  German  'Bar'  or  the  English 
'bear,'  has  almost  the  same  position  as  in  e:  that 
is,  the  same  lowering  of  the  tongue  in  its  centre 
from  the  back  towards  the  front;  only,  instead 
of  the  sides  of  the  tongue  pressing  against  the 
roof  of  the  mouth,  the  tongue  merely  rises  a 
little  and  allows  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  to  be 
almost  as  broad  as  in  the  case  of  a.  In  the 
formation  of  o,  as  in  the  German  'schon,'  and 
of  ti,  as  in  'fruh,'  the  tongue  keeps  the  same 
position  as  in  e  and  i,  while  the  cavity  of  the 
mouth  is  formed  as  for  the  o  and  u. 

The  diphthongs,  such  as  d,  ai,  oi,  au,  au,  etc.,  in 
which  two  vowels  sound,  one  immediately  after 
the  other,  require  two  different  dispositions  of  the 
mouth,  and  accordingly  each  of  their  constituent 
vowels  has  its  proper  tone. 

All  vowel  sounds  are  accompanied  by  noises, 
arising  from  the  striking  of  the  air  upon  the  soft 


32  THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

and  hard  parts  of  the  interior  of  the  mouth,  and 
from  the  consequent  rapid  discords  produced. 
Even  before  Helmholtz,  Willis  and  Donders  had 
discovered  the  characteristic  tones  of  the  vowels 
formed  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth. 

From  the  foregoing  description  it  appears — first, 
that  in  speaking,  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  in  the 
formation  of  every  vowel  adapts  itself  to  an  en- 
tirely distinct  tone,  which  is  the  peculiar  charac- 
teristic clang  of  that  vowel;  secondly,  that  these 
proper  tones  of  the  several  vowels,  made  in  the 
mouth,  are  wholly  independent  of  the  tones  of 
the  voice  that  come  from  the  vocal  cords  vibrating 
in  the  larynx,  and  at  every  age  and  in  both  sexes 
are  always  the  same ;  but  the  various  shades  given 
to  the  vowel  sounds  in  the  pronunciation  of  the 
different  languages,  and  of  different  dialects  of 
the  same  language,  have,  and  they  alone  have,  an 
influence  upon  their  pitch. 

The  extent  to  which  the  larynx  moves  up 
and  down  in  the  forming  of  the  vowels  is 
about  half  an  inch.  Beginning  with  A  in  its 
natural  position,  it  moves  upward  in  E  and  I, 
downward  in  O  and  U,  as  they  are  pronounced 
in  the  previous  examples. 


THE    VOWELS. 


33 


VOWELS. 

HELMHOLTZ. 

DONDERS. 

SEILER. 

U 

f 

f 

f 

0 

bb 

d 

bfL 

A 

bb 

bb 

bd 

0 

1  *| 

I 

% 

tJ 

f    S 

a 

a_ 

E 

f  bb 

*c 

bb 

I 

f     d 

f 

i 

Al 

I  -I 

" 

" 

VOWELS. 

WITH  WOKDS. 

WILLIS. 

HELMHOLTZ. 

O 

No 

c 

.              £ 

Ao 

Nought 

be 

be 

Paw 

1 

1 

A 

Part 

bd 

bd 

Paa 

t_ 

bb 

E 

Pay 

d 

*| 

Pet 

£ 

£ 

I 

See 

& 

d 

4* 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   CONSONANTS. 


so  much  has  been  accomplished  by 
recent  investigations  in  the  domain  of 
Acoustics  in  respect  to  the  formation  of  the  vowel 
sounds,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  foregoing  pages, 
little  or  nothing,  on  the  other  hand,  is  to  be 
found  in  scientific  works  on  the  subject  of  the 
musical  character  of  the  Consonants. 

Helmholtz  remarks,  in  passing,  that  the  conso- 
nants m,  n}  and  /  have  overtones:  beyond  this 
brief  observation,  the  consonants  are  almost  uni- 
versally treated  as  mere  noises.  It  is  only  neces- 
sary, however,  to  use  the  whispering  voice  to  be 
satisfied  that,  with  their  characteristic  noises,  most 
of  the  consonants  have  also  a  distinct  musical 
clang. 

These  proper  tones  are  distinguished  from  those 
of  the  vowels  by  the  fact  that  difference  of  lan- 
guage or  of  dialect  has  no  effect  in  changing  their 
34 


THE   CONSONANTS.  35 

pitch,  which  is  always  the  same  in  the  speaking 
voice  of  man,  in  all  conditions, — that  is,  so  long 
as  the  consonant  is  spoken  alone  without  any 
connection  with  other  sounds  of  speech.  One  may 
easily  satisfy  himself  of  the  fact  by  requesting 
several  individuals  to  sound  a  consonant,  &,/,  or 
«,  for  example,  and  endeavor  to  change  its  pitch. 
They  will  not  be  able  to  make  the  sound  higher 
or  lower  than  the  rest.  Thus,  in  setting  the 
key-note  of  a  song,  instead  of  giving  the  note 
with  a  tuning-fork  or  whistle,  one  who  knows  the 
proper  tone  of  a  consonant  has  only  to  whisper 
that  consonant  to  be  able  to  give  the  key-note 
quite  correctly.  Only  when  the  consonants  g, 
k,  d,  t,  and  /  are  uttered  in  connection  with  such 
sounds  of  speech  as  have  a  higher  pitch  than 
their  own  do  their  proper  tones  seem  to  sound 
higher,  but  this  only  to  a  certain  limit.  In  the 
word  Stick,  for  instance,  the  proper  tone  of  the  t, 
placed  as  it  is  between  s  and  i,  the  proper  tones 
of  which  are  much  higher  than  its  own,  ap- 
pears to  be  higher  than  in  the  word  to,  or  than 
when  it  is  uttered  by  itself;  and  this  is  probably 
because  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  in  such  rapid 
utterance  cannot  accurately  enough  accommodate 


36  THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 

itself  to  a  lower  tone  standing  between  two  higher 


Dr.  Wolf  places  the  limit  of  the  highest  pitch 
of  all  self-sounding  consonants,  spoken  in  connec- 
tion with  higher  sounds  of  speech,  a  whole  octave 
above  that  of  their  individual  proper  tone.  But 
the  results  of  our  most  careful  investigations  do 
not  go  beyond  a  fifth  or  sixth. 

Most  of  those  who  have  written  upon  Speech 
have  invented  names  and  divisions  for  the  dif- 
ferent classes  of  sounds  made  in  speaking.  Dr. 
Wolf  arranges  the  consonants  according  to  their 
musical  character  into  four  groups,  which  I  shall 
adopt,  and  which  are  as  follows : 

I.  The  simple  self-sounding  consonants,  which 
can  be  sounded  purely  and  independently  of  the 
vowels.     These  are  r,  hard  ch,  6,  p,  g,  k,  d,  £,  /,  v, 
s,  and  the  soft  g  and  oh. 

II.  The   compound   self -sounding  consonants, 
such  as  sch,  x,  z. 

III.  The    simple    tone-borrowing    consonants, 
which  borrow  their  musical  sound  from  a  vowel 
sound   and   are   distinctly  audible   only   in  con- 
nection with  it,  as  h,  I,  m,  n. 

IV.  The  compound  tone-borrowing  consonant, 
which  is  the  w. 


THE   CONSONANTS.  37 

In  the  formation  of  all  the  consonants  there  is 
found  somewhere  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  an 
enclosure  or  narrower  space,  against  and  through 
which  the  exhaled  breath  presses,  and  so  is  pro- 
duced a  distinct  noise  quite  independent  of  their 
musical  proper  tone.  The  pitch  of  the  musical 
tone  which  accompanies  this  noise  is  dependent 
upon  the  size  of  the  resonant  space  in  the  cavity 
of  the  mouth,  which  space  is  largest  in  6  and  p 
and  smallest  in  s. 


I.    The  Simple   Self-sounding  Consonants. 

THE  B  AND  P  SOUNDS. 

To  form  the  6  sound  the  lips  are  first  firmly 
closed,  and  the  breath,  compressed  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, is  forced  against  them.  The  lips  then  part- 
ing by  a  rapid  movement,  the  confined  air  escapes 
with  a  sudden  puff,  like  a  miniature  explosion. 

Given  the  same  disposition  of  the  mouth  and 
the  action  just  described  for  the  formation  of  the 
6  sound,  only  executed  with  more  force  and 
energy,  and  we  have  the  p  sound,  the  proper 
tone  of  both  these  consonants  being  very  nearly 


38  THE   VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 

one  and  the  same;  at  the  most  the  pitch  of  p 
is  the  higher  by  something  more  than  half  a 
tone. 

The  tone  to  which  in  b  the  air  in  the  cavity  of 
the  mouth  is  tuned  has  320  vibrations  in  a  second, 
and  comes  nearest  to  the  note  e  with  323J  vibra- 
tions (natural  pitch).  The  p  has  346  vibrations, 
and  comes  near  to  the  f  with  344J  vibrations. 


B  P 


When  the  disposition  of  the  mouth  for  the 
formation  of  the  sound  b  is  kept  unchanged,  one 
may  easily  satisfy  himself  in  regard  to  its  pitch 
by  snapping  the  finger  against  the  cheek.  One 
may  also  by  the  same  means  distinguish  the  proper 
tones  of  the  vowels.  For  mast  of  the  consonants, 
however,  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  is  too  small 
to  allow  their  proper  tones  to  be  heard  in  this 
manner. 

THE    O  AND  K  SOUNDS. 
The  part  played  by  the  lips  in  the  formation 
of  b  and  p  as  above  described,  in  the  case  of  g 
and  k  devolves  upon   the  body  of  the  tongue; 


THE   CONSONANTS.  39 

these  sounds  being  formed  by  its  pressure  against 
the  roof  of  the  mouth  and  quick  withdrawal  from 
it,  the  point  of  impact  being  found  more  or  less 
farther  back  in  the  mouth  as  the  modes  of  speak- 
ing vary  with  different  peoples  and  in  different 
languages,  without  any  influence  on  the  pitch  of 
its  proper  tone.  As  in  the  case  of  p  as  com- 
pared with  6,  the  k  has  a  higher  pitch  than 
g  by  something  more  than  half  a  tone,  which 
is  due  to  the  greater  force  required  in  its  for- 
mation. The  proper  tone  of  g  has  576  vibra- 
tions, and  comes  nearest  to  the  note  d,  which 
has  582;  while  k  has  616,  nearest  to  fee  with 
614  J  vibrations. 


G  K 


THE  D  AND  T  SOUNDS. 

As  with  b  and  p  it  is  the  lips  and  with  g  and 
k  the  body  of  the  tongue  that  are  brought  into 
requisition,  so  in  the  case  of  d  and  t  it  is  the  tip 
of  the  tongue  that  makes  the  enclosure,  by  first 
pressing  against  the  upper  front  teeth  and  then 


40  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

quickly  withdrawing  with  a  snap,  thus  letting  the 
confined  air  escape,  both  the  lips  and  the  upper 
and  lower  teeth  being  slightly  parted.  Their 
proper  tones  are  likewise  almost  the  same,  that 
of  t  being  the  higher  by  about  half  a  tone,  and 
for  the  same  reason  as  before  given. 

The  proper  tone  of  d  has  720  vibrations,  and 
lies  nearest  to  *f,  which  has  726,  while  t  has 
768,  lying  nearest  to  g  with  776  vibrations. 


T 


The  six  consonants  described  above  are  all 
formed  in  precisely  the  same  way,  by  the  pressure 
and  sudden  withdrawal  of  the  lips,  by  the  body 
and  by  the  tip  of  the  tongue. 

,  THE  V  AND  F  SOUNDS. 
These  sounds  are  made  when  the  under  lip, 
pressed  against  the  front  upper  teeth,  forms  with 
the  upper  lip  in  the  middle  of  the  mouth  a 
small  opening,  on  the  edges  of  which  the  stream 
of  breath,  inhaled  or  exhaled,  breaks  and  is  set 


THE   CONSONANTS.  4} 

vibrating.  The  air  pressing  through  this  little 
opening  forms  the  sound  of  /.  By  a  weaker 
expulsion  of  the  air  there  is  produced  the  German 
v.  The  difference  between  these  two  sounds  de- 
pends only  upon  the  stronger  or  weaker  impulse 
given  to  the  breath.  The  noise,  however,  accom- 
panying the/  is  attended  by  a  greater  number  of 
high  inharmonic  overtones,  which  are  formed  at 
the  opening  of  the  mouth.  The  pitch  of  /  with 
862  vibrations  is  like  the  a  of  the  natural  pitch 
with  864  vibrations. 


limit 


THE  S  SOUND. 

Like  the  /,  the  s  is  formed  by  the  emission 
of  the  breath.  While  the  tongue  lies  near  to  the 
lower  teeth  and  the  lips  are  parted,  the  air  is 
driven  between  the  upper  and  lower  teeth.  As 
the  tongue  thereby  is  somewhat  raised,  and  the 
upper  and  lower  teeth  are  brought  together,  there 
remains  for  the  sound  of  s  in  the  cavity  of  the 
mouth  only  a  very  narrow  space,  whence  it  natu- 
5 


42  THE  .VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

rally  follows  that  the  pitch  of  this  consonant  is 
very  high.  By  a  gentle  emission  of  the  air  the 
sound  of  s  has  3750  vibrations,  being  nearest 
to  bb  with  3666  vibrations. 


THE  SOFT  a  AND  CH  SOUNDS. 
These  sounds,  as  they  are  given  in  German 
after  e  and  i,  do  not  occur  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. They  are-  likewise  formed  by  expelling 
the  compressed  air  through  a  narrow  passage 
formed  by  the  pressure  of  the  tongue  against  the 
roof  of  the  mouth,  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
middle  of  the  tongue  is  lowered  from  the  back 
towards  the  front,  and  a  narrow,  pipe-shaped 
opening  is  formed  for  the  passing  air.  In  form- 
ing these  narrow  passages  the  points  of  impact  are 
different  in  different  persons  and  countries,  being 
more  or  less  forward  in  the  mouth.  The  cavity 
of  the  mouth  has  in  the  soft  g  and  ch  the  same 


THE  CONSONANTS.  43 

pitch  as  the  vowel  i,  namely,  the  d  with  2328 
vibrations. 

:  limit 


G  CH 


The  hard  ch,  as  in  the  German  words  machen, 
lachen,  etc.,  is  formed  by  pressing  the  root  of  the 
tongue  against  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  expelling 
the  breath  at  the  same  time;  thus  very  differ- 
ently from  the  soft  ch  in  the  words  Bache,  ich, 
gliicklich,  etc.  If  the  quick  movement  which  the 
root  of  the  tongue  makes  in  forming  the  ch  be 
made  energetically  and  very  far  back  in  the 
mouth,  the  palate  is  set  vibrating  by  the  impulse 
of  a  stronger  stream  of  air,  and  there  instantly 
comes  the  sound  of  r  as  it  is  heard  in  the  North  of 
Germany  and  in  English.  This  is  the  so-called 
uvular  or  palatal  r.  The  proper  tone  of  the  hard 
ch  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  palatal  r.  Its  pitch 
will  be  given  hereafter  when  we  come  to  speak  of 
the  latter.  The  above-described  manner  of  form- 
ing the  hard  ch  as  well  as  the  palatal  r,  inas- 
much as  it  takes  place  so  far  back  in  the  mouth, 


44  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

is  very  unfavorable  to  a  good  development  of  the 
speaking  voice,  and  especially,  as  we  shall  see  by- 
and-by,  to  its  reach.  In  English  the  hard  ch  does 
not  occur,  and  it  is  certainly  for  all  English-speak- 
ing persons  who  are  learning  to  speak  German  the 
most  difficult  to  imitate  correctly. 

I  have  often  been  asked  why  German  dramatic 
artists  pronounce  the  hard  ch  as  if  it  were 
equivalent  to  the  English  sh,  and  I  have  found 
that  precisely  those  among  our  German  actors 
who  use  the  vocal  organ  in  the  most  correct  and 
beautiful  way,  in  the  endeavor  to  give  more  reach 
to  this  unfavorable  sound,  form  it  unconsciously 
farther  forward  in  the  mouth,  where  the  position 
and  pitch  of  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  are  such  as 
to  produce  the  sh. 

THE  R  SOUND.  THE  LINGUAL  R. 
As  the  uvular  r  is  produced  by  the  vibrations 
of  the  uvula,  so  the  lingual  r  is  formed  by  the 
vibrations  of  the  tip  of  the  tongue.  When  the 
tongue  is  allowed  to  be  in  the  same  position  in 
which  the  sound  of  d  is  produced,  and  the  tip 
of  the  tongue  is  raised  and  set  vibrating  by  the 
breath,  we  can  distinguish  in  the  rattling,  intermit- 


THE   CONSONANTS.  45 

ting  sound  of  r  certain  other  very  low  sounds. 
According  to  Wolf,  in   the   uvular  r  the  low  c 

with  16  £  vibrations  is  produced  most  strongly. 
In  the  lingual  r  comes  the  C  with  33  vibrations. 
With  these  lowest  tones  he  found  several 
overtones,  of  which  he  distinguishes  the  C  with 
129  vibrations  as  the  proper  tone  of  the  r.  The 
lowest  tone  mentioned  by  Wolf  the  ear  cannot 
distinctly  perceive.  According  to  our  investi- 
gations, the  C  with  64  vibrations  is  the  proper 
tone  of  the  lingual  r;  and  for  the  uvular  r}  D 
with  72J  vibrations. 


Lingual  R 
Palatal   R 


•9 
C 


II.    The   Compound   Self-sounding   Conso- 
nants. 

THE   GERMAN  SCH  OR  ENGLISH  SH. 
In  the  formation  of  the  sch  (sh)  the  vocal  ap- 
paratus is  adapted  at  one  and  the  same  moment  to 
the  utterance  of  two  different  consonants.     There 
are  created   in   the  mouth  two  narrow  passages 
through  which  the  air  is  expelled :  the  one  like 
6* 


46  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

that  which  is  made  forward  in  the  mouth  for  s, 
the  other  as  in  forming  the  German  hard  cA,  the 
root  of  the  tongue  being  pressed  against  the  roof 
of  the  mouth,  and  its  edges  lying  round  in  con- 
tact with  the  teeth,  while  the  centre  is  raised,  so 
that  the  resonance-space  between  the  two  passages 
is  enlarged.  It  is  evident  that  by  the  breaking 
of  the  stream  of  air  at  two  different  places  two 
different  sounds  are  made ;  but,  as  one  can  in  a 
flute  clearly  distinguish  two  tones,  one  of  which, 
the  flute-tone,  is  produced  in  the  hollow  space  of 
the  instrument  by  the  vibrations  of  the  air,  the 
other  by  the  breaking  of  the  stream  of  air  on 
the  sharp  edges  of  the  aperture,  so  in  pro- 
nouncing the  sch  what  one  hears  is  in  reality  three 
tones, — the  d  formed  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth, 

the  Mb  formed  by  the  breaking  of  the  air  on  the 

teeth,  and  a  third  resultant  tone,  which  is  pro- 
duced in  the  air  by  the  other  two  sounding  to- 
gether, and  which  is  the  f.  The  d  has  2328 

vibrations,  the  bb  3666,  and  the  f  1378.      This 

third  tone  is  often  so  prominent  that  one  hears 
.very  clearly  the  fourth  sixth  chord  of  B>>  major. 


THE  CONSONANTS.  47 


SCH 


A  stronger  expulsion  of  the  breath  in  uttering 
the  sh  causes  the  vowel  t  to  be  heard  quite  plainly 
sounding  with  it,  because  the  pitch  of  the  cavity  of 
the  mouth  is  the  same  as  that  of  this  vowel.  The 
English  oh  is  composed  of  the  sounds  of  t  and  sh. 

In  the  English  th,  which  is  composed  of  two 
sounds,  of  which  one  is  produced  by  the  striking 
and  the  other  by  the  friction  of  the  air,  —  i.e.,  the  t 
and  a  sound  similar  to  the  s,  —  the  cavity  of  the 
mouth  is  tuned  to  the  proper  tone  of  the  sound 
of  t;  for,  instead  of  the  tip  of  the  tongue  lying, 
as  in  the  s,  near  the  lower  teeth  so  that  the  breath 
can  pass  unimpeded  between,  in  forming  th  it 
continues,  after  bringing  out  by  a  sudden  stroke 
the  sound  of  t  to  be  raised  in  the  same  place,  and 
thus  forms  a  narrow  passage  through  which  the 
expelled  air  must  pass  before  it  presses  through 
the  narrow  slits  between  the  teeth. 

The  German  z  and  x  are  likewise  two  com- 
pound sounds,  which,  however,  are  heard  one 
after  the  other  in  rapid  succession,  of  which  one 


48  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

is  produced  by  the  striking  and  the  other  by  the 
friction  of  the  air.  In  the  z,  s  follows  t;  in  the 
x,  s  follows  k,  the  proper  tones  of  which  have 
already  been  given. 

III.    The    Simple   Tone-borrowing    Conso- 
nants. 

THE    H. 

H  has  no  proper  musical  tone,  and  can  be  heard 
only  in  connection  with  a  vowel.  The  Greeks  did 
not  hold  h  to  be  a  consonant.  In  its  formation 
there  is  nowhere  in  the  mouth  any  enclosure,  or, 
indeed,  any  obstacle  to  the  passage  of  the  breath, 
producing  the  noises  by  which  the  other  consonants 
are  accompanied.  The  h  is  thus  nothing  more 
than  the  breath  itself  more  vigorously  expelled  and 
driven  along  the  walls  of  the  mouth  and  the  cavity 
of  the  larynx,  as  is  the  case  when  the  action  of  the 
lungs  is  increased  by  running  or  fast  walking. 

THE   L. 

L  is  formed,  like  d,  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue; 
but,  while  in  d  the  point  of  the  tongue  is  put  in 
contact  with  the  upper  teeth  and  the  roof  of  the 
mouth  and  then  suddenly  withdrawn,  allowing 


THE   CONSONANTS.  49 

the  compressed  air  to  escape,  in  I  the  tongue 
slowly  touches  the  same  places  forward  in  the 
mouth,  and  allows  the  breath  to  flow  quietly  out, 
only  slightly  kept  back.  The  air  thus  detained 
divides  and  streams  out  on  both  sides  of  the 
tongue  along  the  cheeks  towards  the  opening  of 
the  mouth.  L,  like  h,  has  no  proper  tone,  which 
is  evident  from  the  slow  movement  of  the  tongue 
and  the  division  of  the  stream  of  air.  So  soon, 
however,  as  any  tone  sounds  with  it  the  I  sounds 
also,  and,  although  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  is  not 
in  accord  with  any  proper  tone,  one  hears  a  tone 
similar  to  that  of  the  vowel  i,  often  entirely  con- 
cealing the  L  This  peculiarity  of  the  I  may  be  the 
reason  why  it  is  often  considered  as  a  semi-vowel. 
According  to  Valentin,  the  Komanic  languages 
appear  to  regard  I  in  this  light,  often  using  i  in 
place  of  it:  as,  for  example,  planus  (Latin), 
piano  (Italian),  flos  (Latin),  fiore  (Italian),  etc. 

THE    M  AND    N. 

These  two  so-called  resonants  are  in  their  forma- 
tion very  much  alike.  According  to  Czermak's 
investigations  of  the  utterance  of  the  vowels,  the 
palate  is  so  raised  that  no  air,  or  only  a  very  little, 


50  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

can  pass  out  through  the  nose.  In  the  utterance 
of  m  and  w,  on  the  contrary,  the  palate  is  so 
placed  that  the  larger  portion  of  the  breath  passes 
through  the  nose.  The  resonance,  then,  for  these 
sounds  is  mostly  in  the  space  above  the  soft 
palate.  M  and  n  have  no  audible  tone  of  their 
own,  and  can  be  considered  only  as,  so  to  speak  r 
grace-notes  before  or  after  the  tone  of  the  vowel. 
They  cannot  be  used  in  connection  with  conso- 
nants, because  they  are  heard  distinctly  only  when 
joined  to  vowels.  Neither  have  they,  like  the  other 
consonants,  any  independent  characteristic  noises: 
they  depend  entirely  upon  their  resonance.  When 
one  attempts  with  the  whispering  voice,  that  is, 
without  the  help  of  the  tones  of  the  larynx,  to  pro- 
nounce m  and  n,  only  a  sort  of  audible  breath  is 
perceived,  generated  by  the  friction  of  the  air  in 
the  nasal  cavities.  In  forming  these  sounds,  the 
way  for  the  air  through  the  mouth  is  entirely 
closed,  and  opens  only  through  the  nose.  The 
m  is  formed  when,  as  in  the  case  of  6,  the  lips 
are  shut,  and  instead  of  allowing  the  compressed 
breath,  by  a  sudden  motion,  to  escape,  the  lips 
are  kept  closed  and  the  air  passes  out  through 
the  nose.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  having  the 


THE   CONSONANTS.  5J 

mouth  in  the  same  position  as  in  forming  d,  the 
enclosure  in  the  mouth  is  formed  by  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  pressed  against  the  upper  teeth,  there  is 
produced  the  sound  of  n.  According  to  Helm- 
holtz,  through  the  changing  position  of  the  soft 
palate  a  larger  quantity  of  air  passes  through  the 
nose  in  the  formation  of  m,  and  a  less  in  that  of  n. 
A  marked  difference  between  m  and  n  is  perceived 
only  when  a  vowel  sounds  before  or  after  them. 

IV.   The  Compound  Tone-borrowing  Con- 
sonant. 

The  sound  of  w  in  German  is,  according  to 
Briicke,  the  mingling  of  a  consonant  and  a  vowel. 
The  German  w,  like  m  and  n}  cannot  be  heard 
without  an  audible  vowel  sound.  When  it  is 
uttered  audibly  there  is  heard  a  weak  sound  of  w. 
Let  the  mouth  take  the  same  position  as  in  the 
formation  of  /,  and  let  the  sound,  shorter  and 
weaker,  be  joined  at  the  same  time  with  the  vowel 
u,  the  mouth  being  quietly  opened  wide,  and  we 
have  the  German  w.  The  English  w  (double  u)  is  a 
sound  between  the  pure  u  and  the  German  w;  it  is 
heard  when  one  begins  to  sound  the  vowel  u  and 
then  gradually  contracts  the  cavity  of  the  mouth. 


52 


THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 


A  TABULAR  STATEMENT  OF  THE   PITCH  OF  THE 
SELF-SOUNDING  SPEAKING  SOUNDS. 
WOLF. 


R     c  c  c  c 


BP 


GK       d 


DT 


VF 


limit 


lmnds.g       Pitch. 


SCH     ad*f 


THE  CONSONANTS. 
WOLF. 


53 


54  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 


Although  it  is  attempted  in  the  foregoing 
table  to  give  the  pitch  of  the  several  proper 
tones  of  our  speaking  sounds  as  accurately  as  pos- 
sible, this  is  not,  however,  I  conceive,  essential. 
The  main  point  is  this:  That  most  of  the  conso- 
nants, as  well  as  att  the  vowels,  have  distinct  tones 
of  their  own,  characteristic  of  each,  to  which  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  is  tuned,  as  we  have  shown; 
and,  furthermore,  that  these  proper  tones  of  the 
speaking  sounds,  independently  of  age  and  sex,  keep 
approximately  the  same  pitch  in  the  speech  of  all 
human  beings.  Consonants  are  not,  therefore,  as 
has  hitherto  been  assumed,  indefinite  noises.  As 
with  the  vowels,  the  main  fact  is  the  proper  tone 
of  the  sound  forming  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth ; 
the  larger  portion  of  the  air  is  employed  in  the 
formation  of  this  proper  musical  tone  with  its 
regular  vibrations,  and  only  the  lesser  portion 
breaks  upon  the  obstacles  which  it  meets,  thus 
becoming  noise  with  irregular  vibrations  and  dis- 
sonant overtones. 

The  tone  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  gives 
to  the  vowels  their  characteristic  timbre,  and  is 
more  prominent  and  perceptible  than  their  accom- 
panying noises.  But  the  consonants  derive  their 


THE   CONSONANTS.  55 

peculiar  character  from  their  noises,  which  are  so 
prominent  that  their  proper  tones  have  hitherto 
escaped  observation.  Differ  ever  so  much  as 
nations  may  in  speech,  still,  vowels  and  consonants 
ever  alternate,  the  one  with  the  other,  and  indeed 
mostly  in  such  a  way  that  the  cavity  of  the  mouth 
is  not  forced  to  too  great  a  change  in  its  tuning. 
Thus  they  mutually  relieve  one  another,  so  that 
the  speaking  organs  are  less  fatigued,  and  with  the 
same  impulse  of  breath  are  able  to  produce  a  great 
many  different  sounds. 

The  words  which  we  put  into  sentences  in 
speaking  are  composed  of  syllables.  A  syllable 
consists  of  one  vowel  sound,  or  two  vowel  sounds 
immediately  following  each  other,  and  one  or  more 
consonants.  The  vowels  require  for  their  char- 
acteristic tones  a  larger  space  in  the  mouth  than 
the  consonants,  and  while  the  mouth  is  tuned  and 
untuned  for  the  vowel  sound  of  a  syllable,  the 
parts  of  the  mouth  on  their  way  forward  and 
backward  form  the  consonants  belonging  to  the 
syllable.  In  other  words,  a  syllable  is  a  group  of 
speaking  sounds  produced  by  one  pulse  of  breath, 
with  various  quickly  succeeding  movements  of 
the  speaking  mechanism,  the  mouth  opening  and 


56  THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 


closing  for  the  tuning  or  untuning  of  the  vowel. 
It  is  on  this  account  difficult  to  pronounce  two 
consonants,  similarly  formed,  coming  close  to- 
gether in  the  same  syllable,  as,  for  instance,  d 
and  fc,  and  impossible  to  form  double  consonants 
in  the  same  syllables,  as  tt,  pp;  but  it  instantly 
becomes  easy  when  they  are  separated  by  a  vowel, 
as  tat,  pep,  etc. 

When,  for  example,  the  syllable  run  is  pro- 
nounced, the  tip  of  the  tongue,  while  the  cavity  of 
the  mouth  sets  itself  in  tune  for  the  u,  forms  the 
r ;  and  as  it  untunes  itself  the  mouth  closes  with 
the  n,  with  which  the  syllable  is  ended.  And 
for  the  speaking  of  another  syllable  there  is  re- 
quired a  new  opening  of  the  mouth  and  a  new 
pulse  of  the  breath. 

In  looking  over  the  proper  tones  of  the  sounds 
in  speech,  we  find  that  the  lowest,  the  tone  of  r, 
the  C  MS  I*  is  separated  full  six  octaves  from 


the  proper  tone  of  s. 

When  one  considers  the  vast  compass  in  which 
the  proper  tones  of  the  speaking  sounds  range,  in 


THE  CONSONANTS.  57 

reference  to  the  manifold  movements  made  in 
forming  the  noises  which  accompany  them,  and 
the  rapidity  and  certainty  with  which  all  these 
variations  of  activities  are  carried  on,  the  vast  capa- 
bility of  the  speaking  organ  seems  hardly  conceiv- 
able. There  is  certainly  no  artificial  instrument 
that  approaches  it  in  this  respect.  And  the  greatest 
artist,  if  such  an  instrument  were  put  into  his 
hands,  would  be  utterly  unable  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  which  we  in  speaking  unconsciously 
make  light  of  every  day. 

The  whispering  voice,  with  which  we  are  able 
to  make  ourselves  heard  within  narrow  limits, 
consists  merely  of  the  tones  and  noises  of  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  made  with  a  quiet  flow  of 
the  breath.  Only  in  speaking  aloud  are  these 
tones  and  noises  supported  by  the  tones  produced 
by  the  vibrating  vocal  cords  in  the  larynx,  and 
which  give  to  speech  fulness,  melody,  and  reach. 
Our  common  speaking,  therefwe,  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  result  of  the  combined  action  of  two  dif- 
ferent instruments,  which  also  act  separately;  the 
tones  and  noises  made  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth 
alone,  that  is,  the  speaking  sounds,  as  in  the  whis- 
pering voice,  are  made  by  one  of  these  instruments, 
6* 


58  THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 

and  the  musical  tones  of  the  vocal  cords,  as  in 
singing  without  words,  by  the  other.*  In  speaking 
aloud,  and  in  singing  with  words,  both  instruments 

*  It  has  recently  been  proved  by  several  cases  that  dis- 
tinct, although  soft  and  low,  speaking  is  possible  even  when 
the  larynx  is  closed  so  that  no  breath  passes  through  it. 
The  air  contained  in  the  mouth  alone  can  be  applied  to  the 
production  of  speech  when  no  assistance  can  be  had  from 
the  larynx.  Through  the  kindness  of  Prof.  Stork,  of 
Vienna,  my  son  was  made  acquainted  with  a  case  in 
point.  A  patient  in  the  insane-asylum  in  that  city  cut  her 
throat  and  wounded  the  vocal  cords,  which,  in  healing, 
grew  together  so  that  she  could  not  breathe,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  introduce  a  small  tube  into  the  windpipe 
below  the  larynx  to  keep  her  from  suffocating.  After 
some  months  she  began  to  speak,  and  yet  no  opening  of  the 
glottis  could  be  discovered  with  the  laryngoscope.  The 
opinion  of  Prof.  Stork,  that  the  patient  was  enabled  to 
speak,  by  means  of  the  air  in  the  mouth  and  nasal  cavifies 
alone,  was  opposed  by  many  of  his  colleagues,  who  in- 
sisted that  there  must  be  some  opening  between  the  vocal 
cords.  In  a  second  attempt  the  patient  succeeded  in  kill- 
ing herself,  and  a  post-mortem  examination  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  vocal  cords  had  BO  grown  together  that 
neither  water  nor  air  could  pass  through  tEern.  At  the 
suggestion  of  Prof.  Stork,  a  young  man  undertook  to  prac- 
tise in  speaking  with  a  closed  glottis,  and,  to  make  sure 
that  no  air  was  allowed  to  pass  through  it  before  speak- 
ing in  the  above-mentioned  way,  he  inhaled  the  smoke 


THE   CONSONANTS.  59 

are  employed.  All  the  characteristic  tones  and 
noises  of  our  speaking  sounds,  as  they  are  formed  in 
the  mouth  and  shown  in  the  whispering  voice,  be- 
come, when  spoken  aloud,  supported  and  strength- 

of  a  cigarette.  The  closest  observation  could  not  detect 
any  escape  of  the  smoke  thus  inhaled. 

Prof.  Valentin  and  Dr.  Wolf  also  mention  each  a 
case  in  which,  in  consequence  of  unsuccessful  attempts  at 
suicide,  the  glottis  had  so  grown  together  that  the  breath- 
ing had  to  be  through  a  small  silver  tube,  which  was  intro- 
duced between  the  two  uppermost  rings  of  the  windpipe. 
As  soon  as  this  little  tube  was  closed  by  the  finger,  instantly 
there  came  a  fit  of  suffocation.  In  both  cases  the  sufferers 
learned  by  degrees  to  make  themselves  understood,  al- 
though only  in  a  whisper.  The  sounds  that  they  made 
most  distinctly  were  b,p,  g,  k,f,  d,  t,  s,  sch.  The  vowels 
were  more  difficult,  and  could  be  uttered  only  in  connec- 
tion with  other  sounds,  and  it  was  the  same  with  m,  n, 
h,  I,  r.  These  last  were  difficult,  because  the  air  in  the 
mouth,  not  being  increased  by  the  breath  from  the  lungs, 
did  not  suffice  for  their  formation.  Of  the  vowels,  t  was 
the  easiest. 

Speaking  is  also  possible  even  without  the  tongue,  for 
there  are  cases  on  record  in  which  the  whole  of  the  tongue 
had  been  removed  by  a  surgical  operation,  and  still  the 
patients  were  able  to  articulate,  with  the  exception  of  those 
consonants  which  are  produced  by  the  tip  of  the  tongue.* 

*  Tongue  not  Essential  to  Speech,  by  Twisleton,  London. 


gO  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

ened  by  musical  tones.  These  musical  tones,  ac- 
cording to  their  own  laws,  are  produced  with  great 
rapidity  and  certainty  by  the  vocal  cords  in  the 
larynx.  And  to  them  we  give  in  speaking  a  cer- 
tain musical  arrangement,  according  to  the  emotion 
for  which  we  seek  expression. 

Musical  tones  have  thus  their  own  instrument, 
different  from  that  of  the  speaking  sounds  as 
shown  in  the  whispering  voice;  and  the  action 
of  this  instrument  will  be  described  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapter. 

It  is  here  for  the  first  time  that  this  path  has 
been  trodden  in  the  study  of  the  speaking  voice, 
by  which  the  fact  is  arrived  at  that  it  is  the 
combined  result  of  two  wholly  different  actions 
of  our  vocal  organs.  That  hitherto  in  all  the  in- 
vestigations of  this  subject,  sounds  of  Speech  as 
heard  in  the  whispering  voice  have  never  been 
separated  from  the  vocal  tones,  and  that  the  two 
actions,  so  very  different  from  each  other,  have 
been  studied  together  and  considered  only  as  one, 
is  owing,  I  suppose,  to  the  fact  that  it  is  but 
recently  that  Science  has  turned  its  attention  in 
this  direction  at  all.  Up  to  this  hour,  in  all  that 
has  been  written  on  the  subject,  the  voice  has  been 


THE   CONSONANTS.  $} 

treated  almost  exclusively  from  the  aesthetic  side: 
that  is,  expression  in  speaking  has  mostly  been 
considered,  while  the  physiology  of  the  voice, 
owing  to  the  obscurity  in  which  the  subject  was 
involved,  has  been  almost  entirely  neglected. 

My  son,  Dr.  Carl  Seiler,  has  rendered  me  great 
assistance  both  in  determining  the  proper  tones 
of  speaking  sounds  as  given  in  the  foregoing 
pages  and  in  executing  the  drawings  for  this 
book. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   VOCAL   TONES. 

rTIHE  laryngoscope  was  hardly  invented  before 
it  came  to  be  widely  known  and  used ; 
and  many  persons,  without  the  necessary  musical 
or  scientific  qualifications  therefor,  have  under- 
taken to  observe  with  it  the  mechanism  whereby 
tones  are  produced  in  the  larynx.  Many  results 
of  such  superficial  observations  have  been  pub- 
lished even  as  new  discoveries,  and  systems  of 
teaching  have  been  founded  thereon.* 

*  A  physician  who  handled  the  laryngoscope  with  great 
skill  affirmed  that  the  mechanism  in  the  larynx  was  the 
same  for  all  the  registers  of  the  voice,  and  a  singing 
teacher  instantly  published  a  manual  based  upon  this 
strange  assertion.  As  a  proof  of  the  correctness  thereof, 
they  sang  to  me  the  scale  up  and  down,  and  really  suc- 
ceeded in  singing  within  the  compass  of  two  octaves,  with 
the  second  chest-register.  The  gentlemen  did  not  appear 
to  be  aware  that  these  unnaturally  produced  tones  were 
wholly  devoid  of  musical  character. 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  g3 

Every  one  who  in  any  department  of  science 
seeks  with  an  honest  zeal  for  truth  knows  how 
such  inexactly  observed  facts,  instead  of  promoting 
knowledge,  always  hinder  its  progress.  On  this 
account,  it  is  proper  that  I  should  briefly  state 
the  way  in  which  I  have  investigated  the  vocal 
tones  and  the  mode  of  their  production. 

When  I  proposed  to  myself  to  study  more  care- 
fully the  mechanism  of  the  human  voice,  it  did 
not  escape  my  attention  that  the  tones  of  one  and 
the  same  voice  are  divided  into  groups,  the  pecu- 
liar timbre  of  which  shows  a  more  or  less  ob- 
servable difference.  But  before  I  permitted  myself 
to  attempt,  by  the  help  of  the  laryngoscope,  to 
seek  for  the  cause  of  this  fact,  I  considered  it 
indispensably  necessary  first  to  know  what  was  to 
be  understood  by  a  perfectly  correct  natural  tone 
of  voice,  and  also  to  learn  to  sing  such  tones. 
By  the  kindness  of  Prof.  Helmholtz,  I  became 
acquainted  with  the  physical  conditions  upon 
which  pure  musical  tones  depend,  and,  after  long- 
ccntinued  practice,  I  succeeded  in  producing  such 
tones  and  in  making  them  habitual.  Not  until  I 
had  prepared  myself  by  years  of  faithful  study,  and 
knew  the  several  physical  sensations  accompany- 


64  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

ing  a  perfectly  natural  musical  tone  in  the  dif- 
ferent groups,  did  I  'begin  to  observe  in  myself, 
with  the  laryngoscope,  the  movements  in  the 
larynx  during  the  production  of  tones.  In  order 
to  draw  correct  conclusions  from  such  observa- 
tion, attention  must  be  specially  directed  to  the 
physical  sensations  which,  in  a  correct  position  of 
the  mouth,  accompany  the  formation  of  a  perfect 
musical  tone.  For,  in  using  the  laryngoscope,  the 
mouth  must  be  opened  very  wide,  and  all  its  parts 
be  so  drawn  aside  and  so  posed  that  a  full  view 
of  the  glottis  shall  be  afforded.  As  in  this  way  the 
resonance  and  reflexion  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth 
become  disturbed,  it  is  not  possible  to  distinguish 
the  different  groups  of  tones  by  their  timbre  alone. 
When  I  succeeded  at  last  in  obtaining  such  com- 
mand of  the  parts  of  the  mouth  that  I  could  see 
the  whole  glottis,  I  always  found  the  same  move- 
ments in  the  formation  of  the  same  tones,  changing 
and  returning  in  the  same  manner.  I  then  sought 
to  make  like  observation  in  others,  and  selected 
for  the  purpose  persons  who  never  had  had  any 
instruction  in  singing,  and  whose  voices  were  con- 
sequently entirely  natural.  Professional  singers, 
or  such  as  had  received  instruction  in  singing  as 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  Qfr 

it  is  commonly  given,  I  found  for  the  most  part  to 
be  wholly  unfit  for  the  desired  observation.  For, 
with  a  few  distinguished  exceptions,  the  voices  of 
such  singers  are  so  artificially  vitiated  that  they 
are  no  longer  in  a  natural  normal  condition.  The 
results  of  the  observation  of  such  voices  would 
belong  to  the  class  of  facts  inexactly  observed,  from 
which  every  honest  inquirer  cannot  keep  too  far 
aloof.* 

The  larynx  is  the  funnel-shaped  termination  of 
the  windpipe,  widening  upwards.  It  consists  of 
differently-shaped  cartilages,  more  or  less  movable, 
ligaments,  and  muscles.  The  case  of  the  larynx 
consists  of  the  thyroid  cartilage  (a)  and  the  cricoid 
cartilage  (6),  as  the  following  drawing  of  a  larynx 
(Fig.  I.),  somewhat  reduced,  shows.  The  inte- 
rior of  the  larynx  consists  of  the  arytenoid  carti- 
lages, the  cartilages  of  Wrisberg,  the  two  pairs  of 
vocal  cords,  the  cartilages  of  Santorini,  and  the 
cuneiform  cartilages. 

The  cuneiform  cartilages  reach  from  the  vocal 

*  In  The  Voice  in  Singing,  the  laryngoscope,  as  well 
as  the  way  in  which  it  is  to  be  used,  is  described,  and  what 
is  stated  there  need  not  be  repeated  here,  since  this  method 
of  observation  is  generally  known. 
7 


66 


THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 


process  of  the  arytenoid  cartilage,  within  the  edges 
of  the  vocal  cords,  half  the  length  of  the  same. 


FIG.  I. — THE  LARYNX. 


a.  Epiglottis,    b.  Thyroid  Cartilage,    c.  Cricoid  Cartilage,    d.  Trachea. 

In  the  drawing  (Fig.  III.)  we  see,*  stretched  from 
the  anterior  surface  of  the  arytenoid  cartilages 
extending  towards  the  centre  of  the  inner  wall  of 

*  The  Voice  in  Singing  (Appendix). 


THE    VOCAL    TONES. 


67 


the  thyroid  cartilage,  the  two  pairs  of  cords,  con- 
sisting of  folds  of  the  mucous  membrane  which 

FIG.  II. — THE  INTERIOR  OF  THE  LARYNX  IN  QUIET 
BREATHING  AND  IN  WHISPERING. 


a.  Arytenoid  Cartilages,    b.  Vocal  Cords,    c.  Epiglottis,    d.  Trachea. 


FIG.  III. — THE  INTERIOR  OF  THE  LARYNX  IN  THE 
FORMATION  OF  TONES  IN  SPEAKING  ALOUD. 


Vocal  Cords,     b.  False  Vocal  Cords,     c.  Epiglottis,     d.  Arytenoid 
Cartilages,    e.  Wrisberg  Cartilages. 


(}g  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

lines  the  whole  larynx.  The  two  lower  of  these 
cords  (a,  a,  Figs.  II.,  III.),  the  vocal  cords 
strictly  so  called,  into  which  the  cuneiform  carti- 
lages project,  have  their  points  of  attachment  at 
the  arytenoid  cartilages,  somewhat  lower  than  the 
upper  pair. 

Each  of  these  parallel  pairs  of  cords  forms, 
between  their  edges,  a  slit  running  antero-pos- 
teriorly.  The  lower,  or  true  vocal  cords,  approach 
in  vocalization  to  close  contact,  while  the  upper 
cords  scarcely  move,  and  leave  a  wide  elliptical 
opening  between  them.  As  the  upper  cords  have 
their  points  of  attachment  posteriorly  and  higher, 
they  form  with  the  lower  cords  two  lateral  cavi- 
ties, the  ventricles.  The  two  pairs  of  cords, 
therefore,  are  the  free  interior  edges  of  the  mem- 
brane lining  the  whole  larynx,  and  extending  into 
it  to  the  right  and  left. 

Only  the  lower  vocal  cords  serve  directly  for  the 
generation  of  sound.  More  or  less  stretched,  and 
presenting  resistance  to  the  air  forcibly  expelled 
from  the  lungs  through  the  trachea,  they  are  thus 
made  to  vibrate.  The  upper  or  false  vocal  cords 
do  not  co-operate  with  them  to  generate  tone,  but, 
like  all  the  remaining  parts  of  the  mouth  and 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  QQ 

throat,  belong  to  the  resonance  apparatus  of  the 
voice,  to  which  also  appertains  the  back  part  of 
the  mouth,  the  pharynx,  above  the  oesophagus, 
i.e.,  the  throat  or  gullet.  This  is  separated  from 
the  anterior  cavity  of  the  mouth  by  the  soft  palate, 
the  form  and  place  of  which  in  the  mouth  every 
one  knows.* 

When  a  normal  voice  utters  its  lowest  tones 

Woman's  Voice.  Man's  Voice. 


upon  the  vowel  a,  as  it  is  pronounced  in  the  Ger- 
man word  Bar  (English  bear), — this  being  the 
vowel  sound  most  favorable  for  observation, — the 
following  may  be  observed  in  the  mirror : 

The  arytenoid  cartilages,  with  great  rapidity, 
raise  their  points,  the  cartilages  of  Santorini, 

*  The  reader,  if  particularly  interested  in  the  anatomy 
of  the  vocal  organ,  is  referred  for  a  more  minute  descrip- 
tion of  it  to  the  Appendix  to  The  Voice  in  Singing,  and 
to  any  Manual  of  Anatomy.  I  have  given  above  only 
what  is  necessary  in  treating  of  the  character  of  those 
parts  of  the  larynx  which  co-operate  in  the  formation  of 
sound. 

7* 


70  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

in  their  mucous  membranous  covering,  and  close 
firmly  together,  as  is  shown  in  Fig.  III.-  In  like 
manner,  with  equal  swiftness,  the  vocal  cords  ap- 
proach each  other,  until  their  edges  touch  through 
their  entire  length.  The  upper,  or  false  vocal 
cords,  likewise  approach  each  other,  leaving,  how- 
ever, as  may  be  seen  in  the  drawing,  a  relatively 
wide,  elliptically-shaped  space  between  them. 

When  the  scale  is  slowly  sung  upward  legato, 
step  by  step,  the  above-described  movement  of 
the  arytenoid  cartilages  and  the  vocal  cords  is 
repeated  with  every  new  tone,  partly  separating 
and  quickly  closing  again.  The  vocal  cords,  in 
the  production  of  the  lowest  tones  of  the  voice, 
are  moved  through  their  whole  length  and  breadth 
by  large,  loose  vibrations,  which  are  communi- 
cated also  to  the  other  parts  of  the  interior  of  the 
larynx. 

With  every  higher  tone  the  glottis*  is  some- 
what shortened,  and  the  vocal  cords  are  more 
and  more  stretched.  The  raising  of  the  pitch  is 
thus  effected  by  the  greater  stretching  and  short- 
ening to  a  certain  point. 

*  The  glottis  is  the  narrow  slit  between  the  two  vocal 
cords  and  the  arytenoid  cartilages. 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  7J 


The  first  chest  register 


of  the  male  voice.      [*&'  J  — j    J    j 


The  first  chest  register  of  the  i    9 
female  Toice.  (fU 

™ 


, 

3       dk 

With  the  !>b  3  in  the  man's  voice,  and 

the  *c   IdS      i    |  m  tne  woman's,  another  action  of 

the  vocal  cords  suddenly  comes  in.  They  appear 
again  to  be  as  relaxed  as  in  the  forming  of  the 
lowest  tones  of  the  above-mentioned  group,  and  to 
be  moved  in  their  whole  length  and  breadth  by 
large,  loose  vibrations  ;  in  going  up  the  scale,  the 
arytenoid  cartilages,  then  firmly  closed,  as  well  as 
the  other  parts  of  the  interior  of  the  larynx,  are 
unmoved.  But  by  the  closing  of  these  cartilages 
the  glottis  is  shortened  about  one-third.  In  sing- 
ing the  scale  upward  legato,  the  vocal  cords  now 
alone  move,  being  more  and  more  stretched  and 
shortened  Avith  every  higher  tone,  just  as  in  the 
above-described  lowest  register  of  the  voice,  that  is, 
in  the  first  series  of  the  chest  register.  The  move- 
ment of  the  second  series  of  the  chest  register  con- 
tinues up  to  *f  in  every  human  voice,  whether  of 
man,  woman,  or  child.  This  *f  is  the  point  of 


72  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

transition   from   the   chest   tones   to  the  falsetto 
tones. 

Second  chest  register  of  i /»•       f       T~        \  , 
man's  voice. 


Second  chest  register  of 


women  and  children.     I  f\\  \  I  J          J   — j-] — 

t?F    J-         J         J         *  -   IrJ 


That  this  «f  |(J>  rj   |  is  the  natural   point  of 

transition,  in  all  voices,  from  the  chest  voice 
to  the  falsetto,  was  known  to  the  old  Italian 

singing   masters;    for  the   a  t'dj)    ^  4  by  which 

instruments  are  usually  tuned,  and  which  was 
regarded  by  them  as  the  highest  chest  tone,  had, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  370  vibrations, 
the  same  number  as  our  present  jf. 

With  the  rise  and  development  of  instrumental 
music,  the  orchestra  pitch  has  steadily  but  quite 
imperceptibly  risen  higher  and  higher,  as  stringed 
instruments  sound  more  beautifully  when  higher 
tuned.  In  the  year  1700,  the  a  had  410  vibrations, 
and  to-day,  here  in  America,  from  450  to  458, 
in  Germany  and  France  435,  i.e.,  just  half  a  tone 
low^r  than  in  this  country.  But  as,  while  the 
pitch  has  thus  been  rising,  human  voices  continue 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  73 

the  same,  it  is  very  natural  that  a  can  no 
longer  be  sung  with  the  chest  register,  as  was  the 
rule  in  former  times,  lying  as  it  now  does  so  far 
above  the  natural  limit  of  the  chest  register.  As 
soon  as,  in  singing  the  scale  upward,  the  *f  is 
passed,  instantly  with  the  g  the  glottis  again  takes 
part  in  its  whole  length. 

While,  however,  in  the  production  of  the  tones 
of  the  two  chest  registers  the  vocal  cords  are  seen 
to  be  moved  by  large,  loose  vibrations  through 
their  whole  length  and  breadth,  when  the  voice 
enters  the  falsetto  register,  only  their  fine  inner 
edges  are  seen  to  be  vibrating.  While  the  ary- 
tenoid  cartilages  separate  and  quickly  close  with 
every  new  tone,  higher  or  lower,  of  this  group, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  lowest  series  of  the  chest 
register,  the  vocal  cords  shorten  with  every 
higher  gradation  of  tone,  and  show  greater  tension 
up  to  the  l»e  in  man's  voice  and  to  the  *c  in 


First  Falsetto  Register.  I  /f  f     ?     f  Mf*~~\  Man'8  Volce- 


First  Falsetto  Register.  I/,     ,     m     *     F    tP     \  Woman's  Volca 


74  THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 

At  these  points  of  the  scale  the  arytenoid  car- 
tilages are  instantly  firmly  closed  again,  whereby 
the  glottis  appears  shortened  a  third,  as  in  the 
transition  from  the  first  to  the  second  chest  reg- 
ister. The  vocal  cords  again  relax  their  tension 
just  as  suddenly,  only  their  fine  inner  edges 
vibrating,  as  in  the  first  falsetto  register,  and  as 
in  the  other  registers,  shortening  and  stretching 
more  and  more  with  every  higher  gradation  of 
tone  to  *f,  at  which  tone  the  head  voice  in  women 
and  children  begins. 

Second  Falsetto  Register,  j-^     [•— '  f       [*     ^T^J  Woman's  Voice. 

The  second  falsetto  register  of  man's  voice  is 
commonly  thin,  and  is  very  rarely  used.  The 
head  tones  belong  almost  exclusively  to  women 
and  children,  and  are  found  only  very  rarely  in 
men's  voices.  The  head  voice  embraces  five  to 
ten  tones,  and  comes  from  a  repeated  partial 
closing  of  the  glottis.  The  fine  elastic  pair  of 
cartilages,  the  cuneiform  cartilages,  which  are 
hidden  within  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  vocal 
cords,  extend  from  the  arytenoid  cartilages  half 
the  length  of  the  vocal  cords.  In  the  head  tones 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  75 

they  close  firmly  together  with  the  arytenoid  carti- 
lages, just  as  the  arytenoid  cartilages  do  in  the 

FIG.  IV. — THE  INTERIOR  OF  THE  LARYNX  GIVING  THE 
HEAD  TONES. 


a.    Vocal  Cords,      b.    Arytenoid  Cartilage.      c.    False  Vocal  Cords. 
d.  Cuneiform  Cartilage,    e.  Epiglottis. 


first  chest  and  the  first  falsetto  register.  Hence 
there  appears,  forward,  directly  under  the  epi- 
glottis, an  oval  opening,  which  with  every  higher 
tone  grows  smaller  and  rounder,  and  the  fine 
vibrating  edges  of  which  produce  the  highest  tones 
of  the  voice  as  seen  in  Fig.  IV. 


Head  tones  of  women's 


and  children's  voices,  b 


76  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

These  two  registers,  the  second  falsetto  and  the 
head  register,  are  not  used  in  speaking  even  by 
women,  but  only  by  little  children.  The  move- 
ments of  the  vocal  cords  above  described,  in  the 
different  groups  of  tones  or  registers,  always 
change  at  the  same  tone  of  the  scale  in  all  men's 
voices,  wJiether  the  voice  be  deep  or  high.  The 
transition  from  the  first  to  the  second  chest  reg- 
ister in  man's  voice  is  at  ^b  [•(£*  \  1,  and  in 
woman's  voice  at  *c  fojfo |  -L  whether  it  be  a 

soprano  or  an  alto.  The  difference  in  voices  lies 
only  in  the  greater  fulness  and  beauty  of  the  higher 
or  lower  registers,  which  registers  usually  are  the 
easiest  and  most  natural. 


THE    VOCAL    TOXES. 


77 


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78  THE    VOICE   IN  SPEAKING. 

As  soon  as  it  is  attempted  to  transcend  these 
natural  limits  of  the  registers  in  singing  the  as- 
cending scale  with  the  same  action  in  the  larynx, 
there  can  instantly  be  perceived  in  the  mirror 
an  effort  of  the  organ,  of  which  the  singer  him- 
self, when  he  turns  his  attention  to  it,  is  con- 
scious. This  strain  is  seen  and  felt  to  increase 
with  every  higher  tone,  until  it  becomes  utterly 
impossible  to  go  any  higher  with  the  same  action 
of  the  voice.  On  the  other  hand,  when  in  grad- 
ually descending,  keeping  the  action  in  the  larynx 
unchanged,  the  lower  boundary  is  passed,  there  is 
felt,  and  it  is  also  visible,  a  relaxation  of  the 
organs.  The  tones,  however,  are  less  full  and 
sonorous  than  those  generated  by  the  correct 
action,  and  it  is  less  injurious  to  the  voice  than 
the  transgression  of  the  limits  in  the  ascending 
scale.  In  correct  natural  singing  the  different 
registers  inay  be  recognized  by  certain  distinct 
physical  sensations.  When  the  lowest  tones  of  the 
chest  register  are  sung  with  a  moderate  expendi- 
ture of  breath,  or  are  used  in  speaking,  a  tremor 
is  felt  through  the  whole  body.  This  is  felt 
coming  from  the  place  where  the  lungs,  filled 
through  their  whole  extent  with  air,  exert  a  slight 


THE    VOCAL    TONES. 


79 


pressure  upon  the  diaphragm  and  the  parts  lying 
below  it.     The  sensation  is  less,  however,  as  soon 
as  the  breath  is  exhaled  with  greater  force,  which 
is  explained  in  the  following  manner : 
FIG.  V. 


a.  Thyroid  Cartilage.    6.  Arytenoid  Cartilage,    c.  Epiglottis,    d.  Cricoid 
Cartilage,    e.  Trachea.    /.  Bronchi. 

The  windpipe   consists   of  cartilaginous   rings 
connected  with  one  another  and  enclosed   in  an 


80  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

elastic  membrane,  forming  a  tube  terminating  at 
the  upper  end  in  the  funnel-shaped  larynx.  These 
rings  in  the  human  windpipe  are  not  complete, 
but  their  free  ends  are  connected  posteriorly  by 
the  enveloping  membrane,  by  means  of  which 
arrangement  the  windpipe  may  be  enlarged  in  its 
transverse  diameter.  In  producing  the  tones  of 
the  lowest  chest  register,  in  which  the  whole  vocal 
cords  are  set  vibrating,  and  the  vibrations  are 
communicated  to  all  the  interior  parts  of  the 
larynx,  there  is  needed  a  very  copious  stream  of 
air,  flowing  from  all  parts  of  the  lungs,  so  that 
the  windpipe,  by  this  air  alone,  is  dilated  as  much 
as  possible,  and  a  sensation  is  created  as  if  the 
whole  body  took  part  in  producing  the  tones.  In 
the  production  of  the  tones  of  the  second  chest 
register,  in  which  the  windpipe  returns  to  its  usual 
size  in  quiet  breathing,  the  feeling  is  as  if  the  tones 
came  from  the  chest  somewhat  above  the  stomach. 
It  is  the  place  where  the  two  bronchi  coming  from 
the  lungs  open  into  the  windpipe,  and  where  the 
two  streams  of  air  coming  through  the  bronchi 
unite. 

The  tones  of  the  first  falsetto  register  are  felt  as 
coming  from  the  larynx ;  those  of  the  second  fal- 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  gj 

sctto  register  seem  to  come  quite  from  above,  in 
the  upper  front  part  of  the  niouth ;  and  the  head- 
tones  are  felt  as  if  they  came  down  from  the  fore- 
head. 

These  physical  sensations  which,  according  to 
the  difference  of  the  registers  arid  the  various 
changing  movements  in  the  larynx,  are  so  plainly 
felt,  have  given  occasion  to  the  most  contradictory 
views  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  tones  of  the 
voice.  But  they  really  have  no  direct  relation 
thereto.  The  different  movements  of  the  vocal 
organ  require  the  action  of  different  nerve-fibres 
and  muscles  by  which  the  movements  are  made, 
and  are  often  felt  most  strongly  in  remote  parts  of 
the  body.  It  is,  however,  precisely  these  physical 
perceptions  of  the  different  registers  which  are 
an  invaluable  help  towards  the  recognition  of 
the  correct  use  of  the  voice,  and  the  avoidance  of 
the  unnatural  and  incorrect  use  of  it ;  and  for  this 
reason  I  have  given  so  particular  a  description  of 
them. 

In  speaking,  the  sphere  of  the  vocal  tones  is 
much  more  limited  than  in  singing.  Women  use 
mostly  the  tones  of  fhe  second  chest  and  first  fal- 
setto registers,  sometimes,  also,  those  of  the  first 
8* 


g2  TIIE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

chest  register.  Men  speak  an  octave  lower  than 
women,  and  use  mostly  the  upper  half  of  the  first 
chest  register.  In  public  speaking,  as  well  as 
upon  the  stage,  the  second  chest  register  is  used 
by  men,  and  sometimes  also  the  lowest  tones  of 
the  voice. 

The  most  distinguished  dramatic  artists  produce 
their  most  powerful  effects  with  these  lowest  tones 
of  the  first  chest  register,  the  full,  rich  sound  of 
which  is  best  fitted  to  touch  the  tenderest  chords 
of  the  soul ;  and  in  women's  voices,  likewise,  these 
tones  have  often  a  wondroilsly  touching  melody. 

USUAL  RANGE  OF  THE  VOCAL  TONES  OF  WOMEN 
IN    SPEAKING. 

1st  chest  register.  2<1  chest  register.        1st  Falsetto  register. 

?T       J:       J""-^"     *        * 

USUAL    RANGE    OF    THE    VOCAL    TONES    OF    MEN 
IN    SPEAKING. 

First  chest  register. 

EP-r     r     fEE*EE£=^=^tEJI^ 

Little  children  speak  only  in  the  first  and 
second  falsetto  registers. 


THE    VOCAL    TONES.  33 

In  the  foregoing  examples  the  tones  are  desig- 
nated by  notes,  because  in  speaking  we  have  no 
signs  for  the  vocal  tones  that  are  more  exact. 
The  tones  which  accompany  the  sounds  in  speech 
must  not,  however,  be  supposed  to  be  as  definite 
in  regard  to  the  number  of  their  vibrations  as 
the  tones  in  singing.  In  speaking,  the  tones  go 
up  and  down  quite  irregularly,  not  at  all  confined 
to  the  distinctly  defined  gradations  of  musical 
tones  and  intervals,  but  moving  about  in  the  most 
various  ways  between  them. 

The  most  perfect  vocal  tones,  even  in  singing,  / 
as  well  as  the  tones  of  all  musical  instruments,  are  /  • 
always  more  or  less  accompanied  by  noises.  But, 
as  Helmholtz  remarks,  "in  listening  to  music 
we  are  not  accustomed  to  notice  the  accompany- 
ing noises."  The  drawing  of  the  bow  across  the 
strings  of  the  violin,  the  striking  of  the  breath 
against  sharp  edges  in  wind  instruments,  etc., 
are  all  noises. 

Without  vowel  sounds  it  is  impossible  to  sing 
a  tone,  and,  as  has  already  been  observed,  even  the 
most  sonorous  vowel  sound  is  attended  by  noise, 
which,  it  is  true,  in  a  tone  perfectly  sung,  can  be 
heard  only  by  great  attention.  In  speaking,  on 


84  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

I  the  contrary,  the  noises  are  so  prominent  that  we 
are  accustomed  to  notice  only  these. 

The  vocal  tones  in  speech  have  a  very  different 
timbre  from  that  of  the  vocal  tones  in  singing, 
appear  duller,  and  have  less  of  a  clang. 


\ 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    TIMBRE    OF    THE    VOICE. 

TTTE  use  singing  or  vocal  tones  in  speaking, 
and  we  use  words,  or  speaking  sounds,  in 
singing.  Thus,  in  speaking,  as  in  singing,  the 
instrument  of  speech  and  that  of  vocal  tones  work 
together  in  a  similar  way;  and  yet  there  is  a  great 
difference  between  speaking  and  singing,  and  we 
immediately  recognize  it  by  the  difference  of  the 
timbre  of  the  vocal  tones,  for  the  timbre  of  the 
speaking  sounds,  as  we  perceive  it  in  whispering, 
is  as  unchangeable  as  these  sounds  themselves. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  pitch  de- 
pends upon  the  number,  of  vibrations,  the  fulness 
of  the  tone  upon  the  amplitude  of  the  vibrations, 
and  the  timbre  upon  their  form ;  and,  furthermore, 
that  every  musical  tone  consists  of  its  fundamental 
tone,  and  of  a  series  of  overtones  following  one 
another  in  a  certain  order,  and  that  the  timbre  of 
the  tone  is  changed  by  the  number  and  strength  of 

85 


86  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

these  overtones;  likewise,  that  a  perfectly  beauti- 
ful musical  tone  must  be  free  from  high  dissonant 
overtones,  and  be  composed  of  its  fundamental 
tone  and  its  harmonic  overtones,  sounding  with 
the  fundamental  tone  but  gradually  growing 
weaker  to  the  last;  and,  finally,  that  to  such  a 
pure  musical  tone  a  form  of  vibration  as  round 
as  possible  corresponds.  Thus,  tones  of  the  same 
timbre  have  the  same  number  and  order,  and 
the  same  prominent  overtones,  and  also  the  same 
form  of  vibrations. 

The  infinite  variety  of  the  timbre  of  musical 
instruments,  as  well  as  of  human  voices,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  the  slightest  change  in 
the  order,  number,  and  strength  of  the  harmonics, 
as  well  as  the  addition  of  dissonant  overtones,  has 
an  influence  upon  the  timbre.  Helmholtz  found 
that  the  timbre  depends  upon  the  manner  in  which 
a  tone  begins.  When  a  smooth  surface  of  water 
is  touched,  WTC  see  that  it  depends  upon  the  man- 
ner in  which  we  touch  it,  whether  many  or  few 
little  waves,  or  none,  are  formed,  running  out 
and  preceding  the  main  wave.  When  a  little  ball 
of  lead  is  dropped  into  water,  there  are  instantly 
seen  running  quickly  out  over  the  surface  of  the 


THE   TIMBRE  OF   THE    VOICE.  37 

water,  with  the  principal  wave,  and  preceding  it, 
a  number  of  little  waves  (corresponding  to  over- 
tones formed  in  the  air),  the  rapidity  of  the  main 
wave  and  the  number  of  the  little  ones  depending 
upon  the  height  from  which  the  ball  is  dropped. 
But  when  a  bit  of  paper  floating  down  through 
the  air  falls  gently  on  the  water,  few  or  no  little 
waves  are  visible  preceding  the  main  one.  The 
same  is  the  case  when  a  heavy  body  is  sunk  slowly 
into  the  water. 

Consequently,  after  long   years  of  experience^X 
I  have  learned  that  for  every  voice  in  singing,  the        \ 
most  beautiful  timbre  possible  is  to  be  attained  only 
by  beginning  the  tone  with  a  moderate  expenditure       / 
of  breath,  and  with  a  quick,  light,  elastic  touch. 

The  quantity  of  air  exhaled  in  the  formation  of 
a  tone  has  likewise  much  to  do  with  the  timbre. 
It  is  evident  from  the  cases  we  have  mentioned, 
in  which  the  power  of  speaking  remained  when 
the  larynx  was  entirely  closed,  that  the  air  con- 
tained in  the  mouth  is  sufficient  for  the  pro- 
duction of  speaking  sounds  in  whispering.  The 
vocal  tones,  when  they  are  to  be  formed  to  full 
beautiful  musical  tones,  require  only  a  certain 
amount  of  breath.  By  a  quick,  light,  elastic 


88  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

touch,  a  round  form  may  be  given  to  the  waves 
of  sound  most  favorable  to  the  timbre,  and  for 
this  there  is  needed  only  a  weak  stream  of  air, 
which  may  be  quickly  strengthened  in  order  to 
broaden  the  waves  of  sound  and  prolong  its 
duration.  Yet  while,  by  the  broadening  of  the 
waves,  the  tone  gains  strength  and  fulness,  the 
form  must  not  be  changed,  as  otherwise  the 
timbre  will  suffer.  So  that  the  breath  must  be 
,  used  with  care  if  the  tone,  even  in  its  greatest 

power  and  fulness,  is  to  keep  its  beautiful  ring. 

/        A  too  strong  stream  of  breath  only  disturbs  the 

/     waves  of  sound,  or  prevents  them  from  taking  the 

form  most  favorable  to  the  timbre,  without  giving 

fulness  and  power  to  the  voice.     For  by  a  strong 

emission  of  the  air  the  waves  of  sound  are  driven 

out   only   in   one    direction,    without    expanding 

regularly  on   all   sides,   and,  instead   of  the  low 

harmonic   overtones  which   disappear,  high   dis- 

harmonic  overtones  are  heard,  rendering  the  tim- 

\  bre  hard,  sharp,  and  more  or  less  disagreeable. 

The  difference  m  timbre,  by  which  we  distin- 
guish instantly  any  one  voice  from  all  others,  de- 
pends especially  upon  the  fact  that  one,  or  oftener 
two  overtones  sound  more  plainly  than  the  rest. 


THE   TIMBRE   OF  THE    VOICE.  g9 

And  these  prominent  overtones  always  keep  the 
same  intervals  in  the  series  of  overtones  as  they 
have  already  been  described.  If  the  first  and 
second  overtones  sound,  i.e.,  the  first  octave  and 
fifth,  the  timbre  is  soft  and  mild,  as,  when  the 
fifth  and  seventh  sound  strongly,  it  becomes  bright 
and  clear,  etc.  This  is  true  of  the  voice  in  singing 
as  well  as  in  speaking,  because  the  vocal  tones  are 
used  in  both. 

The  very  different  timbre  of  the  same  voice  in 
singing  and  in  speaking  depends  only  upon  the 
different  forms  of  the  sound-waves,  which  in  sing- 
ing are  much  more  favorable  to  the  timbre  than  it 
is  possible  for  them  to  be  in  speaking,  and  conse- 
quently a  greater  number  of  harmonic  overtones 
are  produced.  In  singing,  it  is  the  vocal  tones 
for  which  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  is  always 
tuned,  in  reference  to  which  all  the  movements 
of  the  vocal  mechanism,  as  well  as  all  sounds  of 
speech,  must  be  accommodated.  In  speaking,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  the  sounds  of  speech  to  which 
the  whole  resonance  apparatus  is  fitted,  and  the 
vocal  tones  serve  only  to  ^-ive  to  the  same  greater 
strength  and  reach. 

For  a  tone  in  .-in^inir,  the  cavity  of  the  mouth, 


THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 


A     /    which  serves  as  the  resonance-tube,  and  which  is 
/     tuned  for  every  tone,  must  be  more  spacious  than 
Jj  V       we  are  accustomed  to  make  it  for  the  same  tone  in 
pj\        v     speaking. 

We  cannot  form  any  tone  in  singing  without  a 
vowel  sound ;  but  as  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  is 
.r  tuned  in  singing  to  the  vocal  tone,  it  is  scarcely 
,      possible,  in  many  tones  of  the  voice,  to  bring  out 
/       certain  vowels  purely  and  plainly  with  a  fine  mu- 
sical tone.     It  is  just  as  impossible  to  sing  above 
e  [A— p-^|  upon  any  other   vowel   than  a,  and 

below   the   c  pfe      ,  J  upon   any   other  than   o, 

without  injuring  the  timbre  of  the  tone.*  Every 
singer  knows  that  a  beautiful  tone  in  singing 
often  becomes  possible  only  as  the  vowel  sound 
accompanying  it  is  pronounced  a  shade  darker  or 
lighter. 

Thus,  the  breath,  set  into  sounding  'vibrations 
in  the  larynx,  takes  in  singing  a  direction  differ- 
ent from  that  in  speaking.  In  the  formation  of 
a  tone  in  singing,  the  vibrating  column  of  air 
bounds  against  the  roof  of  the  mouth  immedi- 


*  See  The  Voice  in  Singing,  page  101. 


THE   TIMBRE   OF  THE    VOICE.  9} 

ately  above  the  upper  front  teeth,  and  then  re- 
bounds; thus  obtaining  for  its  vibrations  the  cor- 
rect  form    necessary   to  a   fine  musical    timbre.         >/ 
In  speaking,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cavity  of  the  ^ 
mouth  is  smaller,  and  the   breath   goes  directly      . 
out  before  such  a  form  of  vibration  can  be  at-      \ 
tained ;   consequently,  the  voice  in  speaking  has,       / 
with  many  inharmonic,  but  few  harmonic  over-     / 
tones,  which  takes   from   the   timbre  brightness  / 
and  ring. 

But  the  most  important  difference  between  the 
timbre  of  the  vocal  tones  in  singing  and  in  speak- 
ing lies  in  the  time  which  is  given  to  the  vocal 
tones  to  be  formed.  When  we  sing  with  words,  the 
tone  rests  and  forms  itself  upon  the  vowel  of  the 
syllable,  and  needs  for  its  development  more  time 
than  is  allowed  in  speaking,  no  matter  how  small 
the  difference  of  time  may  be.  The  sounds  of 
speech  quickly  follow  and  crowd  after  one  another. 
But  for  the  shortest  tone  in  singing  much  more 
time  is  required  to  render  it  perfect.  Let  any  one 
try  to  allow  the  syllables  to  follow  one  another  as 
rapidly  in  singing  as  they  do  in  speaking,  and  it 
will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  tones  instantly  lose 
in  melody,  and  their  timbre  becomes  more  like 


92  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

/~the  timbre  of  the  same  tone  in  speaking.  In  like 
manner,  the  voice  in  speaking  gains  in  melody 
when  we  let  our  words  follow  one  another  as 
slowly  as  they  do  in  singing,  and  permit  the  voice 
to  dwell  awhile  upon  the  vowels.  When  several 
quickly  succeeding  tones  are  to  be  sung,  they  are 
formed  as  much  as  possible  upon  one  and  the 
same  syllable  with  one  and  the  same  vowel  sound, 
and  this  is  done  so  unconsciously  that  the  short 
time  which  is  given  for  the  formation  of  such 
tones  is  not  interfered  with  by  the  change  in 
the  cavity  of  the  mouth  required  by  the  speak- 
ing sounds.  In  speaking,  on  the  other  hand, 
several  syllables  are  generally  formed  upon  one 
and  the  same  vocal  tone. 

The  common  idea  that  the  difference  in  timbre 

}  between  "singing  and  speaking  arises  from  the 
fact  that  in  speaking  the  tone  is  veiled  and  muf- 
'  A  fled  by  the  noises  of  the  speaking  sounds,  finds 
ats  contradiction  in  the  fact  that,  in  singing,  the 
speaking  sounds  must  be  made  more  distinct  if 
they  are  not  to  be  veiled  by  the  vocal  tones,  and 
if  they  are  to  be  clearly  understood. 

The  old  opera-composers,  with  true  tact,  had 
an   eye  to   the  slurring  of  the  words  which   is 


THE   TIMBRE   OF  THE    VOICE.  93 

unavoidable  in  singing.  Their  operas  consist  of 
single  pieces,  arias,  duets,  quartettes,  etc.,  in  which, 
by  simple  sentences  mostly,  the  sentiment  of  the 
music  is  supported.  The  speeches,  dialogues,  etc., 
by  which  the  action  of  the  piece  is  carried  on  are 
spoken  (not  sung),  whereby  the  action  is  made 
more  lively  and  not  retarded  in  its  denouement. 
In  place  of  these  spoken  passages,  we  have  now  in 
our  modern  operas  the  Recitative,  which  is  con- 
sidered a  great  point  gained,  as  we  thus  can  have 
musical  dramas.  But  if  a  recitative  be  well  sung, 
i.e.,  with  the  greatest  possible  beauty  of  timbre, 
the  words  are  unavoidably  slurred  and  lengthened, 
or  are  uttered  quickly  and  distinctly,  and  then  it 
is  impossible  to  produce  with  them  a  good  musical 
tone.  A  recitative  is  therefore  usually  either  badly 
sung  or  unnaturally  spoken :  hence  we  may  de- 
termine the  pretensions  of  some  modern  com- 
posers, whose  operas,  as  is  well  known,  consist 
mostly  of  recitatives,  so  that  a  good  singer  must 
look  chiefly  to  the  correct  enunciation  of  the 
words,  and  treat  the  voice  and  its  management  as 
secondary  matters. 

The  difference  in  timbre  between  the  speaking 

and  the  singing  voice  consists,  then, — 
9* 


94 


THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 


1.  In  the  different  direction  of  the  breath. 

2.  In  the  different  roominess  of  the  cavity  of 
the  mouth. 

3.  In  the  different  length  of  time  afforded  for 
the  development  of  the  vocal  tones. 

So,  in  speaking,  the  vibrations  of  the  vocal  tones 
have  a  less  favorable  form,  and  consequently  also 
fewer  harmonic  overtones,  than  in  singing. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

REACH   OF  THE  VOICE. 

fTlHE  waves  of  sound,  like  all  undulatory 
-*•  movements,  flow  out  on  all  sides  from  the 
point  at  which  they  begin,  and  their  amplitude 
decreases  with  the  distance  until  it  vanishes  alto- 
gether. The  greater  or  less  distance  which  the 
sound-waves  run  through  until  they  are  lost  and 
no  longer  heard  constitutes  the  reach  of  the  sound. 
It  depends,  like  their  timbre,  upon  how  and  where 
the  tone  begins,  i.e.,  upon  the  starting-point,  and 
whether  the  air  be  free  or  confined.  We  see  that 
upon  a  surface  of  water  it  is  not  the  force  that 
comes  slowly  in  contact  with  it,  but  the  quick, 
light,  elastic  touch,  that  sends  out  its  undulations 
most  quickly  and  farthest.  Just  so  it  is  with 
sound.  It  is  the  sudden,  elastic  origin  of  a  sound 
that  makes  it  perceptible  at  a  greater  distance 
than  when  it  is  produced  by  a  greater  force  slowly 
applied.  For  how  very  much  elasticity  increases 

95 


96  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

speed  and  force  is  well  known.  By  the  elastic 
blow  of  a  small  hammer  a  nail  may  be  driven 
into  a  board  more  easily  than  if  one  undertook  to 
press  it  in  with  his  whole  strength;  and  the  more 
elastic  the  .motion  with  which  a  boy  throws  his 
ball,  the  farther  and  more  quickly  does  it  fly 
through  the  air. 

Just  so  a  tone  will  sound  farther  and  more 
quickly  when  it  can  spread  out  unhindered  from 
the  place  of  its  origin.  Persons  who  form  their 
speaking  sounds  far  back  in  the  mouth  are  not 
heard  so  far  off,  although  they  exert  the  greater 
force,  as  those  whose  words  are  formed  in  the 
right  way:  as  much  as  possible  forward  in  the 
mouth. 

In  relation  to  the  Reach  of  Sound,  modern 
books  on  Acoustics  have  communicated  some  very 
interesting  results  of  scientific  investigations,  which 
may  properly  find  a  place  here,  as  they  furnish 
many  useful  hints  in  regard  to  public  speaking. 
In  a  place  exhausted  of  air  no  sound  is  possible; 
in  rarefied  air  sound  is  weak,  and  when  persons  in 
a  balloon  have  risen  very  high  in  strata  of  thin 
air,  they  have  had  difficulty  in  making  themselves 
mutually  understood.  Prof.  Saussure  discharged  a 


REACH  OF   THE    VOICE.  97 

pistol  on  the  top  of  Mont  Blanc,  and  it  sounded 
no  louder  than  a  fire-cracker.  Sound  is  carried 
farther  when  it  goes  from  below  upward  than  when 
its  direction  is  the  reverse.  Heat  and  cold,  dryness 
and  moisture  of  the  air,  have  only  a  slight  influ- 
ence upon  the  Reach  of  Sound.  At  the  freezing- 
point  the  reach  of  a  sudden  sound,  as,  for  example, 
the  report  of  a  musket,  is  one  thousand  and  ninety 
feet  per  second,  and  its  speed  is  increased  about 
two  feet  with  every  degree  of  heat.  The  waves 
of  t«»ne  have  the  same  swiftness  as  a  cannon-ball. 
A  beam  of  light  that  sends  its  waves  so  much 
more  swiftly  through  the  air  would,  at  the  above- 
mentioned  slower  rate  of  motion,  cease  to  be  light. 
That  the  wind  has  a  great  effect  upon  the  Reach 
of  Sound  is  well  known ;  but  not  only  does  the 
wind  blowing  against  it  lessen  the  reach,  but  also 
when  it  crosses  its  direction,  and  when,  as  in  a  v 
storm,  it  has  the  same  direction  as  the  sound.  A  ^ 
moderate  wind,  on  the  other  hand,  blowing  the 
same  way  with  the  waves  of  sound,  considerably 
helps  the  reach.  Strong  draughts  of  air  in  a 
room  are  very  unfavorable  to  it.  When  the 
ventilation  of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  in 
London  was  so  arranged  that  there  was  a  draught 


98  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

of  air  in  the  middle  of  the  hall  from  the  floor  to 
the  ceiling,  it  was  impossible  for  the  speakers  to 
be  heard  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  room. 

In  like  manner,  solid  bodies  which  oppose 
the  spread  of  the  waves  of  sound  have  an  ob- 
structing influence  upon  its  reach,  and  if  they  are 
of  great  size,  they  cause  even  a  sort  of  sound 
shadow.  The  sound  continues  on  the  other  side 
of  such  bodies,  as  a  stream  flowing  towards  an 
island  reunites  beyond  it.  We  know  that  the 
smallest  object  standing  in  the  way  of  the  waves 
of  light  casts  a  shadow,  i.e.,  the  light-waves,  which 
are  very  much  smaller  than  the  waves  of  sound, 
are  parted  by  it,  and  reunite  at  a  short  distance 
behind  the  object  that  separates  them,  and  move 
on.  We  see  also  in  water,  that  immediately 
beyond  a  large  rock  or  island  lying  in  the  current 
of  the  waves  the  surface  of  the  water  is  more 
quiet,  although  the  large  waves  roll  around  it. 
r  So  behind  a  large,  firm  body,  which  interrupts  the 
/  sound,  one  hears  as  in  its  shadow  far  less  clearly 
/  than  he  would  if  he  were  at  that  distance  on  the 
opposite  side,  where  the  waves  of  sound,  running 
V  round  it,  again  unite.  Two  persons  separated  by 
a  rising  ground,  though  they  cannot  see  each  other, 


REACH  OF   THE    VOICE.  99 

may  yet  hoar  each  other  well;  but  they  would  hear 
each  other  better  if  nothing  stood  in  the  way,  A/1* 
although  the  sound  goes  off  over  the  elevation. /U)'^ 
Only  when  the  sound  is  conducted  through  a  pipe 
or  a  canal  closed  on  all  sides,  in  which  it  cannot 
spread  itself,  is  it  possible  to  give  it  any  direction 
one  chooses  without  the  sounds  being  weakened. 
When  solid,  firmly-set  bodies  standing  parallel  in 
the  same  direction,  such  as  Avails,  passages,  and 
pipes,  enclose  the  sound,  the  reach  of  the  sound 
is  increased,  as  the  sound-waves  are  on  one  side 
or   on   all   sides  prevented  from   spreading,  and 
they  keep  their  form  and  direction  longer.     It  is, 
in  fact,  as  if  the  waves  found,  as  it  were,  a  sup- 
port enabling  them  to  run  along  farther  and  more 
quickly.     Long  before  the  sharpest  ear  detects  the\ 
approach  upon  the  highway  of  a  wagon  or  a  troop    ) 
of  horses,  the  noise  may  be  heard  by  laying  the/ 
ear  close  to  the  ground.     Over  the  water  also, 
music,  or  the  voice  in  reading  aloud,  is  borne  a  V 
third  of  the  distance  farther  than  it  is  heard  on 
land.     Under  the  domes  of  churches,  or  in  halls  I 
in   which    the    ceilings   and    the   walls    make    no 
angles,    one   may    learn    how   the   sound    travels 
along  the  ceiling.     When  in  such  places  a  person 


100  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

in  one  corner  whispers  with  his  face  turned  to  the 
wall,  another  person  in  the  opposite  corner,  with 
his  ear  against  the  wall,  may  hear  every  word, 
while  one  in  the  middle  of  the  room  hears 
nothing.  Such  is  the  case,  for  example,  in  the 
great  gallery  under  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  in 
Rome,  in  St.  Paul's  in  London,  in  the  great 
entrance-hall  of  the  royal  castle  in  Wiirzburg, 
and  in  other  similar  places. 

The  speaking-trumpets  used  on  board  of  ships, 
the  speaking-tubes  in  hotels,  conduct  the  sound 
far  beyond  its  usual  reach,  because  they  prevent 
the  waves  of  sound  from  being  diffused,  and  thus 
they  keep  their  direction  and  form  much  longer 
when  they  pass  through  the  tube,  as  water  flow- 
ing through  a  pipe  keeps  its  direction  long  after 
it  has  left  the  pipe,  and  before  it  is  lost  in  the 
water  into  which  it  flows.  To  prove  this :  a 
speaking-trumpet  of  brass  plate  may  be  lined 
with  cloth  without  producing  any  difference  in 
the  reach  of  the  sound.  That  at  night,  not  only 
in  the  populous  city,  but  also  in  the  lonely 
country,  every  noise  is  heard  at  a  greater  distance 
and  more  plainly  than  in  the  day-time,  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  by  day  the  air  is  filled  with  all  sorts 


REACH  OF   THE    VOICE.  1Q1 

of  noises,  which  disturb  the  development  of  the 
waves  of  any  single  sound. 

Prof.  "Wertheim  has  investigated  the  reach  of 
sound  through  different  substances.  He  states 
that  water  conducts  sound  four  times  more  swiftly 
than  air;  lead,  silver,  and  platinum  about  eight 
times  as  fast;  zinc  and  copper,  twelve;  iron  and 
steel,  fifteen;  glass  and  ice,  sixteen  times;  and 
that  sound  is  conducted  by  the  wood  of  the  fir- 
tree  eighteen  times  more  quickly  than  in  the  open 
air. 


10 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  EEFLECTION  OF  SOUND. 

OOUND  is  reflected  when  the  waves  of  sound 
strike  against  any  object  and  rebound,  just 
as  it  is  with  light;  and  as  the  beams  of  light 
are  thrown  back  from  a  hard,  smooth,  and  pol- 
ished surface  better  and  more  quickly  than  from 
a  surface  that  is  rough  and  soft,  so  also  firm, 
hard  bodies  best  reflect  sound;  and,  indeed,  the 
more  directly  the  source  of  the  sound  stands 
before  the  body  reflecting  it,  the  more  acute  will 
be  the  angle  in  which  the  sound  is  thrown  back, 
and  the  more  obliquely  the  sound-waves  strike 
the  object,  the  more  obtuse  will  be  the  angle  of 
reflection,  the  angle  of  incidence  being  the  same 
as  the  angle  of  reflection.  As  it  very  often 
happens  that  the  reflection  of  sound  is  confounded 
with  the  resonance  of  objects,  it  will  be  well  here, 
for  the  better  understanding  of  the  matter,  to  state 
briefly  what  resonance  is. 
102 


THE  REFLECTION  OF  SOUND.      JQ3 

As  a  body  upon  which  the  rays  of  the  sun  fall 
becomes  so  heated  thereby  that  it  gives  out  heat 
of  itself,  so  also  many  objects  which  are  struck  by 
the  waves  of  sound  become  self-sounding,  and 
mingle  their  proper  tones  with  the  sound  received. 
The  so-called  resonance-boards,  with  which  we 
are  familiar  in  musical  instruments,  are  all  made 
of  the  wood  of  the  fir-tree,  as  this  is  the  only 
wood  the  fibres  of  which  run  straight  without 
interfering  with  one  another.  These  woody  fibres 
begin  to  vibrate  as  soon  as  the  waves  of  sound  pro- 
duced by  the  strings  strike  them,  and  strengthen 
thereby  the  thin,  weak  tone  of  the  strings  to  the 
degree  in  which  we  hear  it,  full  and  strong,  in 
our  pianos  and  stringed  instruments.  On  account 
of  its  resonance,  fir  wood  is  the  best  conductor  of 
sound,  because  the  sound  strengthened  by  it  keeps 
its  own  strength  so  much  the  longer.  A  vibrating 
tuning-fork  sounds  much  stronger  the  instant 
it  is  placed  upon  wood,  which  immediately 
vibrates  with  it.  In  the  human  voice,  as  well 
with  the  noise  of  speaking  as  with  the  vocal  tones, 
the  resonance  is  the  air  vibrating  in  the  cavity  of 
the  mouth,  which,  stirred  by  both  noises  and 
tones,  vibrates  of  itself.  On  the  other  hand, 


104  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

when  the  sound-waves  are  thrown  back  by  objects 
which  are  not  themselves  stirred,  and  do  not 
vibrate  with  the  sound-waves,  it  is  Reflection. 
Rocks,  caves,  trunks  of  trees,  grouped  in  certain 
ways,  and  even  high  billows,  and  sails  which  are 
rendered  concave  by  the  wind,  as  well  as  smooth 
walls,  etc.,  reflect  sound.  Soft  and  elastic  sub- 
stances, such  as  carpets,  heavy  curtains,  padded 
furniture,  cork,  rubber,  and  felt,  dampen  the 
sound ;  they  do  not  reflect  it. 

To  reflection  is  owing  the  well-known  natural 
phenomenon,  the  Echo,  which  Radeau  explains  in 
the  following  way.  We  first  hear  the  sound  of  our 
own  voice,  and  then  the  reflection  of  the  sound 
from  some  object  a  little  later.  When  opposite  to 
the  reflecting  object  there  stands  another,  upon 
which  the  sound  that  is  thrown  back  can  fall  and 
be  again  thrown  back,  we  hear  the  sound  again 
somewhat  later  the  third  time,  and  so  on.  The 
distinctness  of  the  echo  depends  upon  the  distance 
of  the  reflecting  body  from  the  source  of  the  sound. 
According  to  Radeau,  one  cannot  speak  more  than 
five  to  ten  syllables  in  a  second.(?)  Hence  if  the 
reflecting  body  is  so  near  that  the  sound  comes 
back  before  the  speaker  is  ready  with  the  next 


THE  REFLECTION  OF  SOUND.  1Q5 

syllable,  there  is  only  a  confused  noise ;  the  farther 
off,  then,  the  reflecting  body  is,  the  more  distinct 
is  the  echo.  To  hear  only  one  syllable  distinctly 
repeated  by  the  echo,  the  reflecting  body  must  be 
from  ninety  to  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  distant 
from  the  speaker,  and  he  must  utter  the  syllables 
in  a  manner  favorable  to  the  reach.  Two  syllables 
require  twice,  three  syllables  three  times,  the  dis- 
tance of  the  reflecting  body.  If  it  is  farther  off, 
there  occur  pauses  between  the  repetitions.  Ac- 
cordingly, as  the  articulation  of  the  speaker  favors 
the  reach,  a  distinct  echo  of  seven  syllables  may 
be  heard  at  a  distance  of  four  hundred  or  six 
hundred  feet.  When  we  pronounce  more  sylla- 
bles than  the  echo  from  its  distance  can  return  to 
us,  the  first  syllables  are  not  heard  at  all,  only  the 
last  distinctly. 

We  often  hear  in  the  street  a  noise  which  ap- 
pears to  come  from  quite  an  opposite  direction  to 
that  from  which  it  really  does.  When  houses  or 
walls  are  in  front  of  the  sound,  conducting  it 
away,  we  hear  only  the  reflection  from  the  oppo- 
site houses.  All  arched  buildings  reflect  sound 
very  strongly,*  as  a  concave  mirror  reflects  light. 

*  In  the  vaulted  cellars  of  the  Pantheon  in  Rome  the 
10* 


106  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

In  fine,  upon  the  same  laws  that  are  familiarly 
illustrated  in  the  action  of  light  reflected  from 
two  concave  mirrors  placed  opposite  each  other, 
depends  the  reflection  of  sound  in  vaulted  build- 
ings. 

The  most  opposite  views  prevail  as  to  the 
way  in  which  a  room  should  be  constructed  so 
that  the  voice  in  singing  and  speaking  may  be 
best  heard.  The  main  thing  in  such  a  room  must 
be  that  it  shall  reflect  sound  neither  too  much  nor 
too  little. 

In  ancient  times,  they  had  amphitheatres  cir- 
cular or  elliptical  in  form,  with  seats  all  round 
rising  step  by  step.  These  buildings  had  no  other 
roofs  than  the  sky  above  them,  or,  when  it  was 
necessary  to  protect  them  from  the  sun,  awnings 
extended  over  them.  Although  they  were  so 
krge,  as  we  see  in  their  rains,  as  to  hold  many 
thousands  of  spectators,  people  seated  in  the  high- 
est places  and  most  remote  from  the  stage  heard 

reflection  is  so  great  that  when  the  guide  only  strikes  upon 
his  clothes  it  sounds  like  the  report  of  a  gun.  And  in  the 
grotto  of  Dionysius,  in  Syracuse,  in  Sicily,  the  tearing  of  a 
piece  of  paper  resounds  like  the  firing  of  a  platoon  of 
infantry. 


THE  REFLECTION  OF  SOUND.      1Q7 

with  the  greatest  ease.  It  is  evident  that  the 
ancients  paid  attention  to  the  acoustic  qualities 
of  their  theatres  and  halls.  In  many  of  their 
buildings  of  this  class,  it  appears  that  there  were 
niches,  in  which  were  hung  large  bells,  or  huge 
earthen  vases,  which,  tuned  to  certain  tones,  were 
designed  by  their  resonance  to  strengthen  the 
sounds  of  the  voice. 

But  when  civilization  spread  over  more  in- 
clement climes,  and  Art  could  no  longer  be  en- 
joyed in  the  open  air  at  every  season  of  the  year, 
a  mode  of  building  different  from  that  of  the 
ancients  had  to  be  resorted  to. 

Most  of  our  present  concert-halls,  play-houses, 
and  churches  appear  to  be  constructed  not  for  the 
ear,  but  for  the  eye.  The  pillars,  columns,  galle- 
ries, boxes,  pews,  and  prominent  ornaments  of  all 
kinds,  greatly  interfere,  as  must  be  apparent  from 
what  has  been  said,  with  the  reach  and  reflection 
of  sound.  Elliptical,  circular,  or  highly-vaulted 
buildings  are  injurious  to  the  distinct  development 
of  sound,  because  they  have  too  powerful  or  too 
irregular  reflection;  for  as  two  concave  mirrors 
placed  opposite  each  other  concentrate  the  light 
upon  one  point,  so  it  is  with  sound.  That 


108  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

much  prominent  ornamentation  affects  the  reflec- 
tion of  vaulted  roofs  and  of  the  walls  is  shown  in 
the  concert-hall  of  the  Art  Academy  in  Berlin, 
and  in  St.  Mary's  Church  in  Dresden,  which, 
though  both  vaulted,  are  so  overloaded  with  dec- 
orations that  the  fault  in  their  construction  is  in 
a  measure  remedied,  and  in  both  music  sounds 
tolerably  well. 

The  concert-hall  of  the  Gewandthaus  in  Leip- 
sic  is  celebrated  for  its  acoustic  qualities.  It 
is  about  half  as  broad  as  it  is  long,  and  some- 
what less  in  height  than  in  breadth,  and,  except 
a  gallery,  it  has  no  projecting  decorations ;  ceiling 
and  walls  run  straight,  only  at  the  farther  end, 
where  the  orchestra  has  its  place,  the  walls  form 
a  half-circle. 

The  Musical  Fund  Hall  in  Philadelphia  is 
unquestionably  the  finest  room  in  the  world  both 
for  speaking  and  singing.  It  is  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  long,  sixty  feet  broad,  twenty-two  feet 
high  in  the  corners,  and  twenty-eight  feet  in  the 
centre,  the  ceiling  being  thus  but  slightly  arched. 
Only  on  the  long  sides  of  the  hall  are  there 
windows,  otherwise  the  side  walls  are  smooth. 
When  the  place  is  empty,  and  a  brief,  elastic  tone 


THE  REFLECTION  OF  SOUND.      1Q9 

is  uttered  quickly,  it  may  be  heard  repeatedly  from 
five  to  seven  times,  but  very  rapidly,  so  that  the 
repetitions  can  just  be  distinguished.  A  strong 
tone  suddenly  broken  off  sounds  long  after.  But 
when  the  hall  is  filled,  and  the  surface  of  the  floor 
is  consequently  covered,  this  reflection  ceases,  and 
every  one  who  speaks  or  sings  there  must  observe 
how  little  exertion  of  the  voice  is  needed,  and  how 
beautiful  and  distinct  is  every  sound. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  natural  laws  upon  which 
the  reach  and  the  reflection  of  sound  depend,  and 
what  practice  has  taught  us,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
frame  a  theory  according  to  which  a  room  may 
be  constructed  most  favorable  to  the  distinct  de- 
velopment of  the  sound.  A  smooth  surface  throws 
back  sound  just  like  light,  in  an  angle ;  a  concave 
surface,  on  the  other  hand,  reflects  all  rays  of  light 
as  well  as  all  sound-waves,  coming  from  one  point, 
in  parallel  rays.  It  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that 
it  is  better  to  have  only  one  concave  surface  or 
wall  in  a  music-hall,  as  otherwise  the  reflection 
would  agaiu  come  to  a  focus,  even  though  the 
sound-waves  are  parallel.  When,  therefore,  there 
stands  directly  opposite  to  a  concave,  surface  a 
flat  surface  from  which  the  sound  is  reflected, 


HO  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

a  favorable  reflection  of  the  tone  is  afforded.  The 
size  of  a  building,  provided  it  is  not  too  small, 
has  much  less  effect  upon  its  acoustic  properties 
than  one  would  suppose. 

In  the  theatres  the  spectators'  seats  are  com- 
monly in  a  half-circle,  because  the  stage  with  its 
movable  coulisses,  linen  and  paper  walls,  is  wholly 
unfavorable  to  reflection.  A  great  fault  in  our 
modern  theatres  is,  that  sound  finds  so  little  of 
flat  surface  from  which  to  be  reflected,  and  the 
reach  of  the  sound  is  hemmed  in  by  numerous 
projecting  decorations,  statues,  pillars,  etc.  Upon 
almost  all  stages  the  singers  and  speakers  have 
to  find  and  mark  the  places  where  they  are  to 
stand  in  order  to  be  the  most  easily  heard. 

The  Opera  House  in  Munich  has  some  benches 
in  the  parquette,  where  the  reflection  is  so  power- 
ful that  there,  instead  of  music,  only  a  confused 
noise  is  heard.  A  theatre  renowned  for  its  acous- 
tic properties  is  an  old  Grecian  one  in  Athens. 
The  present  Opera  House  in  Venice  is  also  ex- 
cellent in  this  respect.  It  is  built  like  all  our 
modern  theatres,  except  that  instead  of  the  open 
galleries  for  the  spectators,  a  smooth  flat  wall 
decorated  with  paintings  forms  a  half-circle,  in 


THE  REFLECTION  OF  SOUND.      \\\ 

which  are  the  spectators'  boxes,  opened  towards 
the  stage  like  windows  in  a  house,  and  taking  up 
no  more  space  from  its  flat  surface  than  windows 
would. 

In  the  European  churches  there  is  often  too 
much  reflection,  and  that  reflection  is  rendered 
irregular  by  the  columns,  galleries,  and  decora- 
tions upon  which  the  sound  breaks,  all  of  which 
injures  its  reach  and  renders  the  words  of  the 
preacher  often  unintelligible.  In  a  room  with 
unfavorable  acoustic  properties,  it  sometimes  suf- 
fices for  the  speaker  or  singer  to  change  his  place ; 
but,  as  this  depends  upon  the  quality  of  the  voice 
and  the  manner  of  speaking,  no  strict  rule  can  be 
given.  When  it  is  considered  that  in  the  case  of 
the  loud  utterance  of  a  man's  voice  the  sound-waves 
are  ten  or  twelve  feet  long,  if  it  be  sought  to 
estimate  the  reflection  accordingly,  very  often  incor- 
rect results  will  be  arrived  at,  because,  as  we  have 
seen  in  relation  to  the  reach  and  timbre  of  sound, 
the  form  as  well  as  the  length  of  the  vibrations  de- 
pends upon  the  way  in  which  the  tone  begins,  and 
this  is  different  in  different  persons.  Prof.  Rood 
found  that  when  he  walked  forward  and  back- 
ward before  a  wall  with  a  tuning-fork  in  vibra- 


112  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

tion,  he  came  to  a  place  where  the  sound  could  no 
longer  be  heard,  and  that  is  the  point  where  the 
vibrations  reflected  from  the  wall  interfere  with 
the  vibrations  coming  from  the  fork;  so,  likewise, 
a  place  is  found  where  the  fork  sounds  loudest, 
because  the  reflected  waves  meet  with  the  direct 
waves  in  such  a  way  that  the  latter  are  rein- 
forced by  the  former.  When  a  speaker  finds  such 
a  place,  he  may  be  heard  plainly  notwithstanding 
the  faulty  construction  of  the  room. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

FAULTS   IN  SPEAKING. 

A  LMOST  simultaneously  with  the  ideas  which 
-*-^-  arise  in  the  awaking  mind  of  a  child  is  born 
the  power  to  speak  the  few  words  needed  to  ex- 
press them.  And  merely  by  imitating  the  persons 
around  him,  he  gradually  becomes  accustomed  to 
give  expression  to  his  feelings  and  wishes. 

As  we  learn  speaking  in  childhood,  so  we  use  it 
all  our  lives,  without  a  thought  of  the  wonderful 
mechanism  and  perfection  of  the  Vocal  Organ. 
With  truly  inconceivable  skill  we  unconsciously 
use  an  instrument,  with  which  we  could  not  pos- 
sibly accomplish  anything  if  we  had,  at  a  later 
period,  to  learn  how  to  use  it  as  a  thing  external 
to  us.  We  avail  ourselves  of  the  vocal  organ  with 
just  as  little  thought  as  we  do  of  so  many  other 
miracles  of  creation,  without  troubling  ourselves 
about  their  wonderful  mechanism,  until  science 
directs  our  attention  to  them,  and  then  a  glimpse 
11  113 


114  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

into  the  order  and  harmony  of  Nature  is  afforded 
us.  Then,  indeed,  a  feeling  of  devout  admiration 
fills  us,  and  we  are  impressed  with  a  sense  of  a 
power  before  which,  with  all  our  wondrous  intel- 
lectual faculties,  we  sink  into  insignificance. 

But  of  what  practical  use  is  it  for  the  speaker 
to  understand  the  wonderful  organism  of  his 
voice,  since  it  has  never  yet  occurred  to  any  one 
playing  upon  any  other  instrument  to  trouble 
himself  particularly  about  the  acoustic  laws  of  its 
construction,  those  laws  in  conformity  with  which 
this  natural  organ  is  also  constructed?  AVhy 
should  we,  consciously,  and  with  painstaking,  seek 
to  change  and  improve  what  we  have  naturally 
and  unconsciously  become  accustomed  to  use  ? 
The  answer  is  this :  The  human  voice  is  no 
common  instrument,  none  other  is  so  flexible 'and 
so  changeable  at  will,  and  for  that  reason  none 
other  is  so  often  improperly  and  unnaturally 
used. 

The  knowledge  of  the  natural  laws  of  the 
voice  teaches  us  to  distinguish  the  correct  from 
the  incorrect  use  of  the  vocal  organ,  the  failure 
to  distinguish  which  is  very  common,  and  which 
leads  to  very  serious  consequences,  producing  dis- 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  \\§ 

eases  that  render  speaking  difficult,  and  sometimes 
wholly  impossible. 

And  again,  will  not  this  knowledge  teach  us 
also  to  employ  our  means  of  speech  in  the  best 
and  most  fitting  manner,  i.e.,  to  render  speech 
more  far-reaching  and  full-sounding,  with  less  ef- 
fort, and  at  the  same  time  give  not  only  the  most 
correct  but  the  most  beautiful  expression  to  our 
thoughts  and  emotions?  Through  neglect  of  the 
faults  and  bad  habits  which  children,  in  learn- 
ing to  speak,  catch  from  those  around  them,  as 
also  through  ignorant  attempts  to  improve  the 
speaking  voice,  so  much  that  is  neither  beauti- 
ful nor  natural  has  gradually  slipped  into  our 
manner  of  speaking  and  become  habitual  with 
us,  that  in  order  to  be  able  to  speak  well  and 
naturally  one  must  become  acquainted  with  the 
laws  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  mech- 
anism of  the  human  organ  of  speech.  Nature, 
in  her  unapproachable  sovereignty,  enables  us 
always  to  produce  what  is  most  beautiful  and 
most  perfect,  with  less  exertion  of  our  physical 
powers  than  is  required  for  the  artificial  and  the 
unnatural. 

The  sounds  made  in  speaking  are,  for  the  reach 


11(3  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

of  the  voice,  so  perfectly  formed  when  naturally 
produced  that  the  arrangement  therefor  admits 
of  no  improvement.  The  characteristic  noises  of 
most  of  the  consonants  must  be  formed  with  elastic 
quickness  altogetJier  forward  in  the  mouth.  And 
all  the  rest  of  the  consonants,  as  well  as  all  the 
vowels,  can  be  the  most  easily  produced  in  the 
same  way.  When  this  takes  place  with  the  ap- 
propriate elastic  abruptness,  speech  will  have  its 
greatest  reach. 

Instead  of  this,  the  noise  accompanying  the 
vowels  is  very  frequently  made  slowly  and  feebly, ' 
more  or  less  far  back  in  the  mouth.  Even  in 
scientific  works  the  place  for  the  formation  of  the 
vowels  is  so  given  that  a,  as  it  is  pronounced  in 
fattier,  is  the  farthest  back,  and  u  (as  in  lute)  the 
farthest  front,  in  the  mouth.  The  uncertain  im- 
pulse which  is  given  to  the  air  so  far  back  in  the 
mouth,  and  by  which  the  noise  attending  the 
vowels  is  made,  hinders  the  sound  from  moving 
the  external  air  quickly  enough,  and  at  the  same 
time  gives  the  voice  a  hollow,  muffled  timbre, 
as  though  the  speaker  had  something  in  his 
mouth. 

It  is  evident  from  what  has  just  been  said  that 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  H7 

every  vowel  needs  for  its  peculiar  tone  a  certain 
tuning,  which  requires  a  certain  definite  space. 
In  addition  to  the  careless,  uncertain  formation  of 
the  vowel  sound  so  far  back,  there  is  the  common 
fault  of  not  properly  opening  the  mouth  for  the 
formation  of  the  proper  tone  of  the  vowel,  and 
hence  is  set  vibrating  the  air  of  the  nasal  cavity, 
which,  in  the  correct  utterance  of  the  vowel 
sounds,  is  shut  off  by  the  soft  palate,  and  the 
voice  thus  acquires  an  extremely  disagreeable 
nasal  timbre. 

As  such  an  incorrect  forming  of  the  vowels  de- 
mands a  far  greater  expenditure  of  force,  in  the 
consequent  effort  to  render  the  voice  intelligible 
the  speaker  expels  the  sound  with  increased 
amount  of  breath,  which  naturally  is  more  fati- 
guing, and  needlessly  so.  It  is  evident  that,  in 
speaking,  the  vocal  sounds  of  the  glottis,  even 
when  their  sole  service  is  to  elevate  whispering 
into  speaking  aloud,  need  for  their  development  at 
least  as  much  room  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  as 
the  proper  tones  of  the  vowels.  The  more  room 
that  is  given  them,  the  more  overtones  are  heard 
accompanying  the  vocal  tones,  and  the  more  mu- 
sical and  full-sounding  is  the  timbre  of  the  voice. 
11* 


118  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

It  cannot  escape  the  attention  of  any  observer 
that  this  nasal  or  hollow  timbre  of  the  speaking 
voice  is  very  prevalent,  especially  in  this  country. 
But,  although  the  force  of  life-long  habit  i.s  to  be 
contended  against,  it  is  not  so  hard  as  one  may 
suppose,  with  due  attention  and  perseverance,  to 
overcome  this  fault.  The  best  way  to  do  it  is  to 
take  pains  to  pronounce  the  vowels  quickly  and 
distinctly,  in  connection  with  such  consonants  as 
are  formed  the  farthest  forward  in  the  mouth,  and 
then  to  practise  with  such  syllables  as  produce  the 
vowel  noises  at  the  same  place,  taking  care  to  see 
that  this  is  the  case.  For  we  must  remember  not 
only  that  the  reach,  but  also,  in  great  part,  the 
timbre,  of  the  tones  depends  upon  the  manner  in 
which  the  beginning  is  made. 

I  often  hear  it  objected,  and  especially  by 
young  ladies,  that  it  is  ugly  to  open  one's  mouth 
in  speaking,  and  that  the  teeth  should  be  kept 
closed  and  the  lips  as  quiet  as  possible.  It  is  true 
the  timbre  of  the  sounds  is  injured  as  much  by 
too  great  an  opening  of  the  mouth  as  by  the 
closing  of  the  teeth.  The  correct  state  of  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  requires  only  a  moderate 
opening,  which,  provided  no  needless  grimaces 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  H9 

accompany  it,  secures  graceful  and  fine  speaking. 
With  but  slight  movements  of  the  upper  lip,  it  is 
the  lower  jaw  that,  with  the  tongue  and  lowrer  lip, 
is  most  moved.  The  rest  of  the  features  have 
nothing  to  do  in  speech,  save  as  they  are  invol- 
untarily affected  by  the  import  of  what  is  spoken. 
It  would  be  extremely  ridiculous  if  one  were  to 
treat  light  topics  with  a  sad  countenance,  or  give 
expression  to  pain  and  grief  with  a  smiling 
face. 

The  characteristic  noises  of  many  of  the  conso- 
nants come  from  expelling  the  breath  quite  for- 
ward in  the  mouth  suddenly  and  with  elasticity, 
and  at  that  place  where  it  may,  unobstructed, 
move  the  external  air.  Thus  produced,  these 
noises  are  favorable  to  the  reach,  while  the  conso- 
nants g,  r,  It,  and  I  can  be  just  as  well  formed 
farther  back  in  the  mouth.  But  it  is  necessary 
to  the  reach  of  the  voice  that  these  sounds  also 
should  have  their  inception  as  far  forward  as  pos- 
sible. To  form  g  and  k  in  this  way  requires  only 
a  little  attention.  It  is  somewhat  more  difficult  to 
accustom  one's  self  to  a  correct  utterance  of  /.  It 
is  quite  common  to  form  the  spoken  I  in  the  way 
already  described,  with  the  slow  movement  of  the 


120  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

edges  of  the  tongue  towards  the  roof  of  the  mouth, 
instead  of  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue. 

With  attention  and  practice,  however,  one  may 
accustom  himself  to  form  the  I  with  the  tip  of  the 
tongue.  But  it  is  very  difficult  to  form  the  r  in 
this  way  if  we  have  been  used  to  form  it  with  the 
uvula.  The  palatal  r,  as  is  so  commonly  heard, 
is  formed  entirely  back  in  the  mouth  by  the 
tremulous  motion  of  the  uvula.  To  the  lingual  r, 
made  by  the  vibrating  tip  of  the  tongue,  it  is 
objected  that  it  sounds  aifected;  but  merely  be- 
cause it  is  not  usual.  It  can  be  made  so  lightly 
and  softly  as  not  to  be  distinguished  in  sound 
from  the  palatal  r.  It  is  evident,  however,  that 
speakers  as  well  as  singers,  with  whom  distinct- 
ness and  reach  are  important,  should  use  only 
the  lingual  r.  To  learn  to  make  it  is  sometimes 
rather  difficult,  but  it  can  be  done  by  repeating 
frequently  and  rapidly,  one  after  the  other,  the 
syllables  hade,  hado,  or  ode,  ado,  ada,  etc.  In 
this  way  the  tongue  becomes  accustomed  to  the 
right  position,  and  the  motion  by-and-by  becomes 
rapid  enough  for  the  formation  of  the  rolling  r. 
By  means  of  the  A,  the  breathing,  somewhat 
strengthened,  sets  the  tip  of  the  tongue  vibrating, 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  J21 

which  is  raised  for  the  d,  if  the  motion  is  often 
made  in  quick  succession.  But  it  frequently 
needs  years  of  practice  to  render  the  lingual  r 
habitual.* 

The  thrusting  forward  of  the  tongue,  which  is 
so  common,  or  lisping,  as  it  is  called,  proceeds 
from  an  incorrect  formation  of  the  s.  Instead  of 
allowing  the  tongue  to  lie  near  the  lower  teeth, 
and  giving  free  way  to  the  air  between  the  teeth, 
the  tongue  is  raised  for  the  «,  as  for  the  English 
th,  against  the  upper  teeth.  The  great  portion  of 
the  narrow  opening  between  the  teeth  is  thus 
closed,  so  that  the  many  dissonant  overtones  which 
are  formed  in  the  noise  of  the  s,  at  the  sharp 
edges  of  the  teeth,  are  so  diminished  that  the  s 
thus  lisped  sounds  like  a  muffled  blowing,  which 
obtains  some  degree  of  reach  only  by  a  compara- 
tively greater  expenditure  of  breath.  As  the  s, 
both  in  English  and  in  German,  is  very  frequently 
used,  this  wrong  method  of  forming  this  one 
sound  gives  to  speech  the  very  remarkable  peculi- 
arity which  we  call  lisping.  "With  some  attention 
this  defect  may  be  easily  corrected,  especially  in 
early  youth,  since  it  does  not  arise,  as  is  commonly 
*  The  Voice  in  Singing. 


122  THE  VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

supposed,  from  any  fault  of  the  vocal  organs,  but 
is  the  result  of  a  faulty  habit  which  clings  to 
persons  the  whole  life  long,  because  they  never 
thoroughly  understand  the  cause  of  it. 

Another  common  fault,  which  is,  however,  less 
striking,  owes  its  origin  to  the  fact  that  too  much 
time  is  given  to  the  formation  of  the  consonants 
and  too  little  to  that  of  the  vowels.  The  slow, 
careless  pronunciation  of  the  consonants  makes 
speech  indistinct,  while  the  slighting  of  the  vowels, 
not  giving  time  for  the  development  of  their 
proper  tones,  makes  it  unmelodious. 

Again,  we  often  find  that  indistinctness  of 
speech  is  caused  by  the  speaker's  not  tuning  prop- 
erly the  cavity  of  his  mouth  for  each  vowel 
sound :  this  fault  is  invariably  indicated  by  the 
insufficient  motion  of  the  lower  jaw. 

There  exists  with  women  as  well  as  with  men 
another  very  ugly  and  injurious  fault,  caused 
by  contracting  the  soft  palate  and  the  parts  lying 
in  the  back  of  the  mouth,  so  that  the  air  for- 
cibly pressed  through  this  narrow  passage  meets 
with  unnecessary  resistance.  The  same  action 
takes  place  as  in  clearing  the  throat,  only  in  a 
higher  degree.  This  fault  produces  the  same 


FAULTS  Iff  SPHAKING.  123 

rattling  noise,  a  kind  of  twang,  which  not  only 
gives  a  disagreeable  clang  to  the  voice,  but  also 
tires  the  organs,  and  is  often  a  cause  of  chronic 
sore  throat. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  particularize  the  numer- 
ous bad  habits  of  speaking  which  may  be  daily 
observed.  Keeping  in  view  the  natural  laws  of 
speech,  as  we  have  endeavored  to  set  them  forth 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  every  intelligent  person 
may  of  himself  learn  to  apply  them.  Although 
the  incorrect  formation  of  the  speaking  sounds  is 
very  tiresome,  and  also  unfavorable  to  the  reach 
of  the  voice,  it  has  not  by  any  means  the  inju- 
rious influence  which  an  incorrect  formation  of 
the  vocal  tones  has  upon  the  vocal  organs,  and 
even  upon  the  general  health. 

The  different  modes  of  formation,  or  rather 
the  Registers,  of  the  vocal  tones  arising  in  the 
larynx  from  the .  vibrations  of  the  vocal  cords, 
and  accompanying  the  vocal  sounds  in  speaking 
aloud,  have  been  particularly  described.  And 
it  lias  been  stated  that  the  vocal  tones  used  in 
speaking  in  men's  voices  are  within  the  limits 
of  the  low  chest  register. 
'  When  these  tones  are  correctly  and  naturally 


124  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

formed,  their  clang  is  always  full,  pleasing,  and 
sonorous,  and  more  capable  than  the  tones  of  any 
other  register  of  expressing  the  tenderest  and  most 
passionate  emotions,  never  fatiguing  the  vocal 
organ  even  when  the  speaking  or  singing  is  long 
continued.  But,  unhappily,  these  fine,  deep  chest 
tones  are  rarely  heard  in  singers  or  speakers. 
Instead  thereof,  we  commonly  hear  them  sing 
and  speak  in  the  so-called  Straw  bass  register, 
which  not  only  has  a  dry,  raw  clang,  but  is  also 
extremely  fatiguing,  and  in  the  same  degree  in- 
jurious to  the  vocal  organs..  This  is  mostly  the 
cause,  especially  in  an  advanced  period  of  life,  of 
chronic  inflammations  of  the  throat,  which  defy 
all  medical  treatment  so  long  as  this  unnatural 
mode  of  forming  these  tones  is  continued. 

The  so-called  Straw  bass  register  is  a  needless 
and  unnatural  way  of  enlarging  the  windpipe  for 
the  passage  of  the  full  column  of  air  required  for 
the  formation  of  the  low  tones,  instead  of  leaving 
this  formation,  as  has  been  before  described,  to 
the  air  alone.  The  chronic  inflammation,  thence 
arising,  of  the  vocal  organs,  is  generally  known 
under  the  name  of  "  clergyman's  sore  throat."  * 
*  See  Appendix. 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  J25 

That  tliis  disagreeable  and  injurious  use  of  the 
voice  is  so  common,  and  that  even  bass  singers  so 
rarely  sing  the  deep  chest  tones  in  the  natural  and 
much  easier  way,  is  probably  the  reason  why  the 
false  idea  is  so  prevalent  that  it  is  only  by  a  very 
powerful  use  of  the  breath  and  by  downright 
bodily  exertion  that  greater  force  and  reach  can  be 
attained  for  the  voice.  Every  child  that  amuses 
himself  with  blowing  soap-bubbles  very  soon 
finds  out  that  it  is  only  by  blowing  moderate!}' 
through  his  little  pipe  that  the  largest  bubbles  are 
made.  And  we  are  taught  by  all  that  has  been 
said  in  the  foregoing  pages  that  the  broadest  vi- 
brations— i.e.,  the  vibrations  which  give  the  strong- 
est tones  without  destroying  their  form  (timbre] — 
are  obtained  only  by  a  quick  and  elastic  beginning 
of  the  tone  with  but  a  moderate  expenditure  of 
L i'c<i tli.  When  we  reflect  how  exceedingly  narrow 
is  the  opening  between  the  vocal  cords  through 
which  the  breath  is  expelled  in  the  formation  of 
tones,  and  how  delicate  and  slight  are  the  vi- 
brating cords  which  have  to  resist  the  air  pressing 
upon  them,  it  is  a  matter  of  astonishment  that  tin- 
vocal  orpin  endures  such  a  strain  as  it  is  com- 
monly subjected  to.  When  teachers  of  elocution 
12 


126  TIIE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

and  of  singing  require  their  pupils  to  fill  their 
lungs  full  of  air,  that  every  tone  and  sound  may 
be  given  with  the  greatest  possible  quantity  of 
breath  and  force,  they  require  what  is  just  as 
opposite  to  the  purpose  as  it  is  needlessly  fa- 
tiguing, and  will  be  as  impossible  to  be  borne 
as  if,  instead  of  walking,  one  were  always  to 
run  at  the  top  of  his  speed. 

In  all  the  conditions  of  our  existence  it  is 
evident  that  nature  has  designed  us  to  use  all 
our  powers  in  moderation.  Hence  when  we  un- 
dertake to  employ  the  maximum  of  our  strength 
in  whatever  we  do,  as  we  so  often,  for  example, 
use  our  breath  in  singing  and  in  speaking,  that 
strength  must  soon  be  exhausted. 

For  the  audible  whispering  voice  there  is 
always  sufficient  air  in  the  mouth,  and  even  for 
speaking  aloud  a  moderate  increase  suffices. 

Women  and  children,  with  very  rare  excep- 
tions, observe  the  registers  correctly  in  speaking. 
The  chronic  inflammations  of  the  throat  so  fre- 
quent in  women  are  mostly  produced  by  incorrect 
singing  of  the  two  highest  registers ;  and  they  dis- 
appear by  correct  singing  of  the  second  falsetto 
and  head  registers,  or  by  ceasing  to  sing  at  all. 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  127 

Among  English-speaking  people  the  voice  is 
used  in  a  very  faulty  manner.  The  reason,  I 
suppose,  is  that  not  enough  care  is  taken  with 
little  children  to  guard  them  against  contracting 
bad  habits  of  speaking.  In  Germany,  where,  in 
cultivated  circles,  special  attention  is  given  to 
speaking  and  reading,  much  more  pains  are  be- 
stowed upon  the  young  in  these  particulars.  The 
bad  habits  formed  in  childhood,  so  offensive  to  a 
cultivated  ear,  are  very  often  overcome  in  after- 
life only  with  great  difficulty,  if  they  be  overcome 
at  all.  In  almost  all  our  schools  the  teachers  of 
elocution,  to  attain  any  valuable  results,  have,  at 
the  utmost,  only  two  or  three  hours  in  a  week  to 
devote  to  the  instruction  of  classes,  every  indi- 
vidual of  which  has  faults  enough  to  consume  the 
time,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  too  often  the 
teachers  themselves  are  far  from  speaking  correctly. 

A  teacher  of  elocution  should  be  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  physiology  of  the  vocal 
organ  and  with  Acoustics,  if  he  is  to  be  successful 
in  the  hard  conflict  with  bad  habits  of  speech. 
And  even  then  favorable  results  can  be  looked  for 
only  when  a  few  pupils  are  under  instruction  at 
the  same  time. 


128  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

An  accomplished  teacher  will  need  to  hear 
only  a  few  words  from  his  pupil  to  discover 
whether  the  vocal  tones  are  produced  in  the  right 
registers.  By  the  peculiar  twang  of  the  voice  he 
will  instantly  recognize  when  it  is  unnaturally 
used.  He  must  then  first  teach  his  pupil  to  form 
the  lowest  tones  correctly,  in  accordance  with  the 
physical  sensations  which  have  been  described. 
The  pupil  should,  with  very  little  expenditure  of 
breath,  sing  those  tones  with  a  feeling  of  comfort, 
and  without  any  exertion  on  his  part,  so  that  the 
windpipe  may  be  enlarged  only  by  the  air  flowing 
through  it.  In  singing,  the  vocal  tones  can  be 
much  more  easily  judged  of  by  the  teacher,  and 
be  much  more  plainly  felt  by  the  pupil,  than 
when,  obstructed  by  the  sounds  in  speech,  they 
cannot  be  fully  developed.  Only  when  these 
lowest  tones  can  be  easily  and  correctly  sung  by 
the  pupil  should  he  be  required  to  use  them  in 
speaking  and  in  reading.  Every  word,  every  syl- 
lable, every  vocal  sound,  must  be  repeated  until  it 
is  produced  with  perfect  correctness, — not  merely 
every  vocal  tone  in  the  right  register,  but  also 
every  speaking  sound  wholly  forward  in  the 
mouth,  with  due  precision  and  distinctness  and 


FAULTS  IN  SPEAKING.  129 

without  a  disagreeable  timbre.  When  every  sound 
is  correctly  produced,  the  pupil  may  advance  to 
reading  aloud  and  declamation,  the  teacher  taking 
especial  care  that  the  right  measure  of  breath  is 
never  exceeded. 

When  instruction  is  thus  given,  by  a  teacher 
possessing  the  required  knowledge  and  the  neces- 
sary talent,  it  is  surprising  how  much  may  be 
accomplished  in  a  short  time;  but  the  teacher 
must  have  a  fine  power  of  observation,  great 
patience  and  perseverance,  and  a  sterling  general 
culture.  It  is  far  more  difficult  to  correct  a  faulty 
way  of  speaking  than  a  faulty  way  of  singing,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  expression, — giving  a  soul  to 
the  form, — of  speech.  Inspired  by  an  indefinable 
emotion,  one  may  sing  with  great  effect ;  but  im- 
pressive speech  demands,  together  with  deep  feel- 
ing, a  distinct  sense  of  the  import  of  what  is  said. 
A  teacher  of  elocution,  therefore,  in  addition  to  a 
thoroughly  solid  general  culture,  must  be  possessed 
of  the  fine  feeling  which  will  enable  him  to  form 
his  pupils  to  a  true,  natural,  and  beautiful  de- 
livery. ' 

It  is  parents,  however,  who  are  bound  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  all  that  is  good  in  the  hearts  of  their 
12* 


130  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

children,  who  can  do  the  most,  and  with  far  better 
results  than  it  is  possible  for  a  teacher  at  a  later 
period  to  realize.  They  have  but  to  make  clear 
to  themselves  in  what  a  correct  and  beautiful 
mode  of  speaking  consists,  and  to  accustom  their 
children  thereto. 

Hitherto  we  have  endeavored  to  describe  the 
laws  which  govern  the  voice  in  speaking:  the 
Form.  The  giving  life  and  soul  to  the  form 
of  speech  will  be  considered  in  the  remaining 
pages. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

MODULATION. 

T)UTTING  together  in  close  connection  a  num- 
•*•  ber  of  speaking  sounds,  as  they  have  now 
been  described,  we  form  a  word  whereby  we  give 
expression  to  some  definite  idea.  And  as  we  thus 
combine  these  sounds  in  greater  or  less  numbers, 
in  an  infinite  variety  of  ways,  it  becomes  possible 
to  us,  with  these  few  fundamental  sounds  of 
speech,  to  render  intelligible  to  others  every  con- 
ceivable idea,  every  possible  emotion.  But  even 
a  single  word,  according  to  the  vocal  tones  upon 
which  it  is  borne,  and  the  intonation,  that  is,  the 
shade  of  timbre,  strength,  and  rhythm,  with  which 
it  is  pronounced,  may  express,  with  the  same 
sequence  of  sound,  very  different  conditions  of 
feeling. 

There  is  a  little  comedy  which  has  recently 
passed  from  the  German  to  the  English  stage,  the 
title  of  which  is  "Come  Here."  A  stage-manager 

131 


132  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

is  represented  as  examining  a  young  actress, 
whom  he  requires  to  express  with  these  two  words 
every  variety  of  emotion,  from  the  greatest  joy  to 
the  deepest  sorrow  and  despair.  Although  I  had 
often  before  seen  this  little  play,  it  was  not  until  I 
saw  Mademoiselle  Janausehek  in  this  part  that  I 
was  at  all  moved  and  made  to  share  in  the  various 
emotions  expressed.  Simply  by  varying  the  vocal 
tones,  the  shadowings,  intonations,  and  tempi  of 
these  tones,  the  artist  was  able  so  to  utter  these 
two  syllables  as  to  produce  in  the  hearer  one  state 
of  feeling  after  another  of  the  most  different  and 
opposite  character,  with  a  success  not  to  be  at- 
tained by  the  most  elaborate  and  vivid  description. 
And  this  effect  was  secured  simply  by  the  Modu- 
lation of  the  Voice. 

It  is  commonly  thought  that  melody  in  singing 
and  modulation  in  speaking  are  one  and  the  same 
thing.  As  both  result  from  a  series  of  variously 
arranged  vocal  tones,  the  origin  and  development 
of  which  depend  upon  the  same  laws,  and  since 
to  both  belong  the  different  shades  of  intonation, 
this  seems  at  first  sight  entirely  correct,  and 
hence  we  see  why  it  is  that  in  all  works  relating 
to  elocution  the  attempt  is  made  to  lay  down 


MODULATION.  133 

special  rules  for  modulation,  just  as  is  done  for 
melody. 

Melody  and  Modulation,  notwithstanding  their 
apparent  resemblance,  are,  however,  essentially 
different. 

Melody  is  the  form  artistically  created  for  Song, 
and  it  alone  serves  as  the  Form,  since  Music,  that 
airy  ideal  Art,  has  no  other.  The  singer  receives 
the  melody  as  a  thing  made  and  fixed  by  the  com- 
poser, to  which  he  is  to  give  life  and  soul ;  but  in 
Speech  it  is  the  speaking  sounds  that  constitute  the 
Form  to  which  soul  is  to  be  given  by  Modulation. 

Every  expression  of  Art  requires,  as  well  from 
him  who  represents  as  from  him  who  creates  it,  a 
certain  inspiration,  a  divine  afflatus,  if  it  is  to  act 
with  any  power  upon  others.  Under  such  an  im- 
pulse, the  musical  composer  writes  the  melody  of 
his  work  in  definite  characters,  in  notes,  by  which 
he  indicates  with  precision  the  gradations  of  the 
tones,  their  time,  and  their  strength.  A  melody 
once  composed  is  forever  unchangeable ;  and  if  a 
singer  fails  to  observe  with  accuracy  the  prescribed 
order  and  time  of  the  tones,  if,  indeed,  he  sings 
a  single  note  higher  or  lower  by  only  a  few  vibra- 
tions, a  musical  ear  instantly  detects  the  fault. 


134  THE    VOICE  IN  SFEAK1XU. 

Melody  is,  therefore,  a  form  created  for  Art,  rest- 
ing upon  fixed  natural  laws,  and  in  accordance 
with  set  rules.  And  yet,  of  all  forms  of  Art  it  is 
the  most  delicate,  incorporeal,  and  indefinite,  by 
which  we  can  give  forth  only  obscure,  indefinable 
moods  of  feeling.  It  is  the  task  of  the  singer  to 
animate  the  music  as  carefully  as  possible  with  the 
same  emotions  which  inspired  the  composer  who 
created  it.  The  beauty  of  a  composition  is,  how- 
ever, not  necessarily  injured  when  the  singer  gives 
it  a  character  natural  to  himself,  but  different  from 
that  of  the  composer.  And  here,  I  doubt  not,  we 
have  the  reason  why  music  is  so  near  and  dear  to 
us  all.  It  is  because  Melody,  the  Form  of  this 
Art,  adapts  itself  so  readily  to  the  individual 
feelings  of  every  one,  and  gives  expression  to 
emotions  as  real  as  they  are  obscure. 

While  Melody,  as  the  Form  of  Art  in  song, 
is  fast  bound  by  rules,  Modulation  in  Speech  is 
free  and  untrammelled.  It  is  connected  neither 
with  tones  depending  upon  a  certain  number  of 
vibrations  nor  with  intervals,*  but  changes  with 
an  inexhaustible  variety,  according  to  the  finest 

*  Intervals  are  the  greater  or  less  distances  between  two 
notes. 


MODULATION.  135 

shades  of  the  emotions  from  which  it  directly  pro- 
ceeds and  of  which  it  is  the  immediate  expression. 
For  the  modulation  of  speech  is  created  at  the 
very  instant  at  which  the  vocal  sounds  need  it. 
And  as  it  is  thus  created,  it  thus  vanishes  forever, 
leaving  upon  the  mind  of  the  hearer  a  more  or 
less  distinct  impression. 

The  speaking  sounds,  arranged  in  syllables, 
words,  and  sentences,  constitute  the  Form  of 
Speech,  animated  by  modulation,  and  in  charac- 
ters written  or  printed  this  form  obtains  perma- 
nency, and  such  definiteness  and  exactness  as  no 
one  could  otherwise  insure ;  for  by  means  of  the 
written  or  printed  word  we  have  exact  apprecia- 
tion of  our  thoughts,  and  can  even  communicate 
our  feelings  with  comparative  clearness  to  others, 
without  the  help  of  the  voice  and  its  modulation. 
For  much  that  is  addressed  to  the  understand- 
ing alone  or  chiefly,  as,  for  example,  matters  of 
science,  mere  reading  is  often  to  be  preferred,  as 
it  affords  us  time  to  weigh  well  what  is  stated. 
Indeed,  many  dramatic  works,  such  as  Lessing's 
"  Xntl ism  the  Wise,"  or  Goethe's  "  Faust,"  arc  so 
rich  in  thought  that  they  give  us  greater  pleasure, 
in  reading  than  in  the  representation  on  the  stage, 


136  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

since  in  the  latter  case  many  beauties,  that  cannot 
at  once  be  caught,  escape  us.  A  thought,  whether 
heard  or  read,  always  keeps  its  significance.  But 
the  fine  and  deep  shades  of  our  emotional  life 
need  the  voice  and  the  modulation  of  the  vocal 
tones  to  give  them  life  and  color. 

Among  the  millions  of  human  beings  inhabit- 
ing the  globe,  rarely  are  there  to  be  found  two 
persons  so  alike  as  not  to  be  distinguished  one 
from  the  other.  And  yet  all  face.-  arc  composed 
of  like  features  and  in  the  same  manner.  The 
movements  of  the  inner  nature  show  themselves 
in  the  looks,  and  if  the  same  dispositions  of  mind 
often  return  or  long  endure,  the  looks  expressive 
thereof  become  gradually  more  and  more  firmly 
set ;  in  other  words,  the  countenance  takes  an  ex- 
pression indicative  of  a  certain  character  by  which 
the  individual  is  distinguished  and  his  position 
in  life  may  be  guessed  at.  Just  so  it  is  with  the 
modulation  of  the  voice,  which,  although  bounded 
by  certain  limits,  is  different  in  different  individ- 
uals, and  so  distinguishes  one  from  another.  As 
the  features  are  in  a  manner  fashioned  by  the 
predominant  states  of  the  mind,  so  the  Voice  also 
comes  to  move,  as  it  were,  with  the  same  intervals, 


MODULATION.  137 

in  obedience  or  conformity  to  the  life  within. 
Like  the  features,  the  modulation  of  the  voice  is 
a  reflection  of  the  inner  life  by  which  persons 
may  be  distinguished  and  estimated.  The  voice 
of  a  man  moved  by  the  lower  passions  is  certainly 
very  different  from  that  of  a  person  whose  voice 
is  expressive  only  of  true  and  worthy  affections. 

Just  as  there  are  family  likenesses,  and  it  may 
be  known  from  the  form  and  expression  of  the 
face  to  what  nation  a  man  belongs,  so  is  it  with 
the  modulation  of  the  voice.  Children  very  read- 
ily take  after  their  parents  and  kindred  in  this 
respect. 

Of  all  nations,  the  Italians  have  the  most  beau- 
tiful modulation,  and,  altogether,  they  make  the 
most  correct  and  natural  use  of  speech.  All  their 
speaking  sounds,  without  exception,  arc  made  for- 
ward in  the  mouth;  and  the  peculiar  wealth  of 
the  Italian  language  in  vowels,  in  the  formation 
of  which  the  mouth  is  always  open,  is  the  reason 
why  the  vwal  tones  in  this  language  are  devel- 
oped fur  better  and  more  musically  than  in  any 
other  tongue.  With  a  natural  grace  Italian  mod- 
ulation rises  and  falls,  like  a  finely-composed 
melody;  and  even  when  the  language  is  not  un- 
13 


138  T1{K    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

derstood,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  listen  to  it  from  the 
lips  of  such  dramatic  artists  as  Ristori  and  Salvini. 

The  modulation  of  French  speech,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  a  restless,  eccentric  character,  which  is 
shown  in  the  energetic  way  in  which,  without  any 
reason,  single  syllables  are  continually  accented, 
and  in  the  continuous  change  of  the  tempo.  This 
imparts  a  sort  of  unnatural  pathos,  not  only  to 
the  fashion  of  speaking  on  the  stage,  but  also  to 
the  colloquial  intercourse  of  daily  life. 

In  Germany,  the  modulation  of  the  voice  is 
different  in  different  places  and  districts.  In 
Austria,  Upper  Bavaria,  and  Suabia  it  is  often 
very  pleasing.  But  in  the  north  of  Germany,  es- 
pecially in  Saxony,  it  is  extremely  disagreeable, 
from  the  sliding  of  the  voice  up  and  down  in  the 
greatest  intervals,  oftentimes  upon  one  and  the 
same  syllable. 

The  most  monotonous  is  the  modulation  of  the 
English.  It  is  a  favorite  jest  of  the  Italians  to 
imitate  English  people  in  their  attempts  to  speak 
Italian  with  closed  mouth  and  with  their  monoto- 
nous modulation  and  accentuation. 

It  requires  a  special  gift,  which  is  granted  to  but 
few,  to  succeed  in  fully  acquiring  the  modulation  of 


MODULATION.  139 

a  foreign  tongue,  especially  in  mature  years.  It  is 
by  modulation  that  a  foreigner  is  instantly  known, 
even  though  his  speech  be  perfectly  grammatical. 
^While  no  one  has  ever  dreamed  of  laying  down 
fixed  rules  for  the  expression  of  the  emotions  by 
looks  and  gestures,  or  invented,  for  the  under- 
standing of  such  rules,  written  characters,  all 
works  on  Elocution  undertake,  what  is  just  as 
impossible,  to  give  numerous  rules  for  the  modu- 
lation of  the  voice,  often  enough  contradictory, 
and  to  teach  in  what  intervals  the  voice  is  to 
be  modulated  for  this  or  that  eflect.  We  fre- 
quently meet  with  propositions  and  attempts  to 
devise  for  this  purpose  some  peculiar  system  of 
notation.  Many  writers  have  indeed  endeavored 
to  indicate  the  modulation  of  single  sentences  by 
notes,  as  in  music.  Of  the  success  of  such  at- 
tempts the  following  specimens  may  enable  the 
reader  to  judge.  We  premise  only  that  modula- 
tion in  speaking  does  not,  like  melody  in  singing, 
keep  to  distinct  limited  tones,  but  ranges  by  mani- 
fold gradations  between  the. tones,  which  obviously 
cannot  be  indicated  by  notes.  Of  a  number  of 
persons  who  have  attempted,  at  my  request,  to 
read  aloud  such  sentences  according  to  the  notes 


140 


THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 


here  given,  not  any  two  modulated  them  in  the 
same  way  j  and  it  was  only  after  long-continued 
and  laborious  practice  that  the  above  notation 
could  be  observed. 

From  "Die  Grundrisse  der  korperlichen  Bercdsamkeit." 


Wen  M  ii-li  ink  Mensclien  und  uiit  Engelzujigen  redete       und  luit- 


te  der  Liebe  uicht,  so  ware  ich  ein  tiinend  Erz      Oder      cine 

Narrative.         Joyful.        Interrogatory. 


klingciide      Schellc.     Sie   ist    da.   Sie    ist    da.    1st   sie   da? 
Calling  out.         Narration.  Interrogation.  With  eflt-ct. 


ist  da.   Kr  ist   uiir  gut.    Ist    or     niirgut?Er    ist   mir  gut. 
Hanlc. 


hi  sif  IHrlx'ii  ?  O  du  uiw'n  Allos.  (  )  Fn  und,  wcr  kanii  i's  iindi-rn  ? 


Schickdichin   die  Zc-it.   \\\-r    will's 


It-h     will  uk-lil! 


Ist    es    dir  Erust?  Recht  gernc,    Roclit  gerne,    Recht  genie 


MODULATION. 
Rush. 


Seems,      ma    -    dam?        uay,  it          is;        I     know    not    seems. 

But  Bru  -  tus         says          he          was  am    -    bi    -    tiona. 

Dr.  Rush  is  of  the  opinion  that  for  a  proper 
modulation  in  speaking  it  is  necessary  to  raise  or 
lower  the  voice  within  greater  or  smaller  intervals 
on  each  sy  liable.  This  he  has  endeavored  to  'ex- 
press by  peculiar  notations,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
above  example.  The  thicker  part  of  these  nota- 
tions he  calls  radicle,  and  denotes  by  it  the  prin- 
cipal and  accentuated  part  of  the  interval;  while 
the  thinner  he  calls  vanish,  in  order  to  express  the 
gradual  dying  out  of  the  intensity  of  voice.  Many 
rules  are  given  in  his  work  as  to  how  this  sliding 
up  and  down  of  the  voice  shall  be  accomplished 
according  to  the  different  emotions  which  are  to 
be  expressed.  Dr.  Rush  has  apparently  noticed 
the  proper  tones  of  the  speaking  sounds,  but,  like 
all  those  who  have  occupied  themselves  with  this 
subject,  has  treated  the  speaking  sounds  in  con- 
nection with,  instead  of  distinguished  from,  the 
13* 


142  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

vocal  tones,  and  both  as  resulting  from  one  action 
of  the  vocal  organs. 

On  account  of  the  great  variety  of  the  proper 
tones  of  speaking  sounds,  and  their  rapid  changes, 
it  is  very  necessary,  for  a  beautiful  manner  of 
speech,  that  the  vocal  tones  should  move  in  slow 
intervals,  and  never,  or  very  rarely,  change  their 
pitch  on  the  same  syllable. 

What  notes  are  to  Music,  written  or  printed 
letters  are  to  Speech ;  and  it  is  by  means  of  notes 
that  Music  and  by  means  of  letters  that  Speech 
are  both  made  permanent,  and  more  than  this  we 
do  hot  need.  To  the  animation  of  the  Form  of 
Speech,  which  Form  we  have  in  the  speaking 
sounds,  in  a  word,  to  Modulation,  we  look  not 
only  for  the  due  combination  and  pitch  of  the 
vocal  tones,  but  also  for  the  stronger  or  weaker 
accentuation,  as  Avell  as  for  the  time,  or  the  slower 
or  quicker  manner  in  which  the  syllables,  words, 
or  sentences  are  uttered.  The  accentuation  of  his 
speech,  as  well  as  the  import  of  what  he  says, 
intimates  to  the  speaker  that  he  must  dwell  upon 
the  long,  low  syllables  longer  or  pronounce  them 
more  strongly  than  the  light,  short  syllables,  and 
thus  he  will  utter  more  slowly  and  accentuate 


MODULATION.  ^43 

more  emphatically  those  words  which  especially 
indicate  his  meaning.  When  the  object  is  merely 
to  address  the  understanding  and  communicate 
thought,  accentuation  is  the  main  thing.  All 
subordinate  propositions  are  stated  quickly  and 
lightly,  in  order  to  dwell  emphatically  upon  the 
principal  thought  and  thus  to  impress  it  upon  the 
mind  of  the  hearer.  Less  depends  in  this  case 
upon  the  order  of  the  vocal  tones,  or  upon  the 
melody  of  speech.  But  when  emotion  is  to  be 
expressed,  it  is,  together  with  the  accent  and  the 
time,  the  melodious  order  of  the  vocal  tones, 
particularly  the  manner  in  which  they  rise  and 
fall,  which  is  chiefly  to  be  regarded.  As  in 
singing,  and  in  every  kind  of  music,  feelings 
and  moods  can  be  expressed  more  deeply  and 
delicately  than  by  any  other  art,  so  also  the 
Modulation  of  the  Voice,  the  musical  tones  of 
speech,  although  they  cannot  be  as  perfectly  de- 
veloped as  in  Song,  are  yet  capable  in  like  man- 
ner of  giving  expression  to  every  emotion,  and  of 
awakening  it  in  the  hearer,  provided  always  that 
the  speaker  himself  is  entirely  possessed  with  it. 
"The  dramatic  artist,"  says  Lessing,  "must  show, 
by  the  surest  and  most  correct  tones,  that  he  is 


144  THE   VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

thoroughly  penetrated  with  the  meaning  of  his 
words.  Even  a  parrot  must  be  taught  right  ac- 
centuation. How  wide  the  difference  between  an 
actor  who  merely  understands  a  passage  and  one 
who  feels  as  well  as  understands!  Words,  the 
meaning  of  which  has  been  committed  to  memory, 
may  be  very  correctly  spoken  even  when  the  mind 
is  occupied  with  quite  other  things,  but  in  this 
case  no  feeling  is  possible.  The  soul  must  be 
wholly  present,  its  attention  must  be  directed 
singly  to  the  expression  of  the  words.  The  dif- 
ferences in  the  modulation  of  voices  are  infinite, 
and,  although  they  cannot  be  classified  or  defined, 
they  can  be  distinguished  by  the  most  unpractised 
ear,  as  well  as  observed  by  the  most  uncultivated 
voice,  when  the  voice  comes  from  a  full  heart." 

"  In  declamation,"  says  Goethe,  "  I  must  put  off 
my  own  native  character,  deny  my  own  nature, 
and  transport  myself  into  the  situation  and  mood 
of  him  whose  role  I  act,  so  that  I  shall  feel  every 
emotion  as  he  felt  it." 

The  public  speaker  and  the  dramatic  artist 
must  thus,  above  all  things,  be  profoundly  im- 
pressed and  penetrated  with  the  sentiments  which 
they  express  before  they  can  hope  to  produce  any 


MODULATION.  145 

effect  upon  their  hearers.  The  mind  is  so  accus- 
tomed to  rule  the  body,  and  to  make  the  bodily 
movements  subservient  to  its  affections,  that  every 
one,  according  to  the  measure  of  his  sensibilities, 
may  command  a  more  or  less  effective  modulation 
of  his  own  voice.  The  more  deeply  we  ourselves 
feel  what  we  seek  to  say,  the  more  surely  shall  we 
communicate  the  same  feeling  to  others,  and  the 
more  correctly  and  unconsciously  shall  we  avail 
ourselves  of  the  inexhaustible  means  of  express- 
ing ourselves,  afforded  by  the  modulation  of  the 
voice.  We  frequently  meet,  however,  with  very 
amiable  and  highly-cultivated  persons  with  a  very 
bad  and  affected  modulation  of  the  voice,  con- 
tracted usually  from  those  around  them,  in  early 
life,  and  which  has  become  so  fixed  that  they  have 
lost  all  sense  of  its  disagreeable  character,  and 
consequently  have  retained  the  evil  habit  through 
life.  It  is  indeed  very  difficult  to  get  rid  of  a  bad 
habit,  but  it  is  not  impossible.  By  attention  and 
perseverance  grimaces  and  awkward  gestures  may 
be  corrected.  Easily  and  successfully,  however, 
as  one's  manner  of  speaking  may  be  improved 
and  bad  habits  corrected  (that  is,  so  far  as  the 
speaking  sounds,  which  are  subject  to  certain  fixed 


146  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAK  IMS. 

laws,  are  concerned),  the  modulation  of  the  voice 
is  another  affair,  since  it  is  not  to  be  governed  A// 
rules.  /Only  indirectly,  by  example,  by  general 
culture,  and  by  all  those  means  of  education 
which  tend  to  elevate  and  refine  our  sensibilities, 
can  the  modulation  of  the  voice  be  wrought  upon 
and  improved.  The  most  can  in  this  case  be  done 
by  parents,  who  should  tolerate  in  their  children 
no  disagreeable  ways  of  modulation. 

But  what  constitutes  a  beautiful  Modulation  of 
the  Voice? 

It  must  be  evident  to  our  readers  that  we  have 
already  virtually  answered  this  question.  Our 
aim  in  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  book  has 
been  to  analyze  and  describe  the  speaking  sounds, 
and  to  show  wherein  their  correct  articulation  con- 
sists. There  our  office,  as  regards  elocution,  ends. 
Modulation  comes  from  a  higher  and  deeper  source 
than  the  organ  of  the  voice.  Let  the  mind  be 
fully  occupied  with  the  thought,  or  the  heart  full 
to  overflowing  with  the  emotion  that  seeks  utter- 
ance, and  the  voice  may  be  trusted  to  take  care 
of  itself.  To  lay  down  rules  for  modulation  is  as 
idle  as  to  undertake  to  subject  to  regulation  the 
features  of  the  face,  to  teach  that  the  brows  must 


MODULATION.  147 

be  knit  when  anger  is  to  be  expressed,  or  the 
corners  of  the  mouth  drawn  down  in  the  expres- 
sion of  grief.  The  only  rule  in  regard  to  such 
things,  the  modulation  of  the  voice  with  the  rest, 
is  stated  in  the  familiar  words  of  the  Roman 
poet, — "  If  you  wish  me  to  weep,  you  must  weep 
yourself."  * 

The  calling,  and  the  success,  of  the  great  artists 
of  the  drama  lies  in  this,  that  by  the  inspiration 
of  their  genius  they  transport  themselves  into  the 
situations  and  hearts  of  the  characters  which  they 
represent.  "When  this  is  done,  the  play  of  the 
features,  all  the  movements  of  the  body,  and  all 
the  tones  of  the  voice,  will  follow  as  they  should. 
Let  the  speaker  cultivate  the  sense  of  the  "beau- 
tiful and  the  graceful,  as  it  was  cultivated  of  old 
by  that  wonderful  people  whose  temples  and 
?-tatiu:s  and  literature  have  been  the  wonder  and 
the  models  for  centuries  down  to  this  hour,  and, 
inspired  by  that,  and  by  the  faith  or  emotion 
swelling  for  utterance,  he  need  not  trouble  himself 
about  modulation. 

But  where  the  right  feeling,  the  true  impulse, 

is  wanting,  affectation,  extravagance,  and  servile 

*  "Si  vis  meflere,  dolendum  est  primum  ipsi  tibi.'' — HOR. 


148  TIIE    VOICE  IN  SrEAKlXG. 

imitation  arc  sure  to  creep  in  and  deprave  the 
finest  powers  of  speech.  And  so  it  comes  to  pass 
that  the  extraordinary  and  the  odd  usurp  the  place 
of  the  beautiful;  and  this  is  the  case  not  only  in 
matters  of  fashion,  but  also  in  art.  Everywhere 
one  is  painfully  impressed  with  this  lack  of  good 
taste  only  too  frequently  apparent  in  public  speak- 
ers and  dramatic  representations.  Play-actors  arc 
almost  always  most  vehemently  applauded  when 
their  delivery  is  most  unnatural  and  extravagant. 
How  often  does  one  hear  even  popular  actors  using 
on  the  most  trivial  occasions  the  same  deep  tones 
that  belong,  on  the  stage,  to  the  production  of 
the  most  tragic  effects!  At  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  such  unnatural  declamation  was 
all  but  universal  on  the  German  stage,  and  was 
considered  as  a  grace  even  in  ordinary  conver- 
sation. Within  the  last  twenty  years  the  critic 
(thanks  to  him!)  has  fallen  mercilessly  upon  this 
affectation  and  exaggeration  of  the  German  thea- 
tres, and  in  so  doing  has  exercised  a  good  influence 
upon  the  popular  taste :  so  that  now  the  most 
distinguished  dramatic  artists  of  the  present  day 
study  to  be,  natural,  recognizing  truth  and  nature 
a.s  the  soul  of  Art. 


MODULATION.  149 

Among  many  preachers  also  there  prevails  a 
highly  unnatural  and  offensive  modulation  of  the 
voice,  the  so-called  pulpit  tone,  a  sort  of  monoto- 
nous sing-song,  in  which,  in  almost  every  sentence, 
the  voice  rises  and  falls  in  the  same  way,  closing 
with  a  downward  movement. 

The  pulpit  tone  appears  to  be  traditional,  and 
to  have  come  down  from  the  Past,  as  the  conse- 
crated mode  of  expressing  the  sacred  and  the 
solemn. 

And  yet  it  is  the  preacher  especially,  whose 
calling  it  is  to  exercise  a  forming  influence  upon 
his  hearers,  who  should  be  so  thoroughly  pene- 
trated with  the  truth  and  importance  of  what  he 
has  to  say,  that  his  voice  will  be  naturally  and 
involuntarily  modulated  aright.  Many  preachers 
have  a  habit  of  speaking  very  rapidly,  which 
is  as  little  fitting  in  a  church  as  the  frequent 
unnecessary  changing  of  the  register,  the  making 
of  long  pauses  in  order  to  arrest  attention,  when 
nothing  of  any  weight  follows ;  and  other  tricks 
for  effect.  How  deeply,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one 
impressed,  and  IIONV  elevating  is  the  effect,  when 
the  preacher,  having  spared  no  pains  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  distinctness  and  melody  in  pronunciation, 
14 


150  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

gives  utterance  naturally,  spontaneously,  with  a 
true  modulation  of  the  voice,  to  that  which  he 
himself  feels  deeply ! 

As  oftentimes  one  melody  is  sung  more  easily 
than  another  in  the  same  pitch,  because  the  com- 
poser knew  how  to  choose  the  vowel  sounds  which 
are  most  favorable  to  the  notes,  so  there  are 
writers  whose  works  are  more  easily  read  than 
those  of  others,  and  seem  of  themselves  to  sug- 
gest-and  inspire  a  beautiful  modulation.  Upon 
a  critical  examination  it  will  be  found  that  these 
readable  writers  have  the  tact  to  cause  dark  and 
bright  syllables  so  to  alternate  that  even  their 
prose  has  a  certain  rhythm,  i.e.,  a  pleasing  sequence 
of  long  and  short  syllables.  Those  poets  whose 
education  has  made  them  intimate  with  the  Greek 
language  are  for  the  most  part  distinguished  for 
their  flowing  style:  Schiller,  for  example,  in  whose 
poems  the  German  language  is  used  in  a  way  most 
favorable  to  modulation.  Likewise  in  Evers's  ro- 
mance "Die  agyptische  Konigstochter"  we  have 
a  style  which  for  its  beautifully  flowing  character 
can  hardly  find  its  equal  in  German  literature. 
On  the  other  hand,  writers  who  look  only  to  the 
grammatical  relations  of  their  words  often  fail  t6 


MODULATION.  151 

command  due  interest  from  their  readers  by  per- 
mitting syllables  of  like  sound  to  follow  one 
another,  and  by  not  properly  distributing  long 
and  short  syllables,  faults  easily  to  be  avoided 
by  every  one  who  has  discernment  enough  to 
see  them.  Everybody  is  familiar  with  series  of 
syllables  of  like  sound,  which  it  requires  con- 
siderable practice  to  pronounce  with  any  degree 
of  rapidity.*  By  an  alternate  action  of  the  or- 
gans of  speech  changing  readily  and  without 
interruption,  and  by  a  correct  use  of  long  and 
short,  dark  and  bright,  syllables,  a  kind  of  modu- 
lation is  formed  of  itself.  A  public  speaker  may 
thus  by  careful  preparation  do  much  to  secure  a 
pleasing  delivery. 

Parents  and  teachers  should  especially  look 
with  care  to  the  formation  in  the  young  not  only 
of  a  correct  but  also  of  a  beautiful  manner  of 
speaking.  And  it  would  surely  do  no  harm  if, 
after  the  example  of  the  Greeks,  more  pains  were 
taken  in  the  education  of  children,  to  awaken  and 
cultivate  in  them  the  sense  of  the  beautiful,  which 
not  only  renders  life  so  much  richer  and  more 

*  Peter  Piper  picked  a  peck  of  pickled  peppers,  etc. ;  or, 
Theodore  Thistle  sifted  a  sieve  of  unsifted  thistles,  etc. 


152  THE    VOICE  IN  SPEAKING. 

graceful,  and  lifts  us  above  so  many  petty  cares, 
but  also  gives  to  the  soul  a  higher  and  nobler 
aim.  If  this  book  helps  in  any  degree  to  effect 
this  object  alone,  the  pains  bestowed  upon  it  will 
be  sufficiently  rewarded. 


APPENDIX. 


14*  153 


APPENDIX. 


CLERGYMAN'S  SORE  THROAT. 

IN  the  foregoing  pages  the  way  has  been  shown 
in  which  our  organs  act  in  order  to  produce 
speech;  and  it  has  also  been  shown  that  sci- 
entific principles  underlie  and  govern  all  those 
various  sounds  and  noises  which  are  necessary  to 
speech.  But,  as  in  a  great  many  other  things,  so 
also  in  speaking  and  singing,  natural  laws  have 
been  disregarded  or  even  denied  altogether,  and 
by  false  training  an  artificial  and  unnatural  way 
of  speaking  has  been  formed  by  many  of  our 
orators  and  singers.  Nature,  however,  revenges 
herself  severely  for  any  disregard  of  her  laws,  and 
the  result  of  this  artificial  mode  of  speaking  is, 
that  the  vocal  organs  very  often  become  diseased. 
In  the  following  pages  the  attempt  will  be  made 
to  state  precisely  the  nature  of  the  disease  thus 
occasioned,  and  the  mode  of  treating  it. 

155 


156  APPENDIX. 

Many  names  have  been  given  to  this  particular 
form  of  throat  disease,  as,  follicular  pharyngitis, 
papillary  sore  throat,  clergyman's  sore  throat,  or 
contenda  phonia,  as  Dr.  Gibb  calls  it.* 

It  is  most  common  among  those  whose  calling 
it  is  to  speak  or  sing  in  public,  or  who  are  obliged 
to  speak  for  a  considerable  length  of  time  daily, 
such  as  auctioneers,  school-teachers,  etc. 

The  first  symptoms  perceived  are  a  dryness  of 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  pharynx  and  a  pecu- 
liar huskiness  of  the  voice.  These  symptoms  be- 
come gradually  worse;  a  hacking  cough  sets  in, 
which,  through  its  persistence,  is  very  annoying; 
the  voice  becomes  more  and  more  husky,  and  fre- 
quently is  lost  altogether,  and  attempted  phouation 
becomes  painful.  There  is  little  or  no  expectora- 
tion. 

A  careful  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the 
laryngoscope  (which  is  indispensable,  and  without 
which  no  correct  diagnosis  can  be  made),  reveals 
the  following  condition  of  the  parts :  the  soft 
palate  appears  relaxed  and  of  a  darker  hue  than 
in  health,  with  the  uvula  slightly  elongated  and 

*  Gibb,  Diseases  of  the  Throat  and  Windpipe.  London, 
1864. 


CLERGYMAN'S  SORE   THROAT.  ^57 

swollen.  The  mucous  lining  of  the  pharynx  is 
dry  and  injected,  and  in  cases  of  long  standing 
studded  with  enlarged-  follicles,  and  sometimes 
small  ulcers  are  seen  on  its  surface.  Upon  intro- 
ducing the  mirror  into  the  mouth  and  lifting  with 
it  the  uvula,  the  interior  of  the  larynx  is  brought 
into  view.  The  epiglottis,  the  first  object  seen,  is 
swollen  and  injected,  with  here  and  there  an  en- 
larged follicle  on  its  posterior  surface.  The  aryte- 
noid  cartilages  are  swollen  and  inflamed,  with  an 
abrasion  or  even  ulceration  between  them.  The 
vocal  cords  are  reddened  and  thickened,  especially 
at  their  free  border.  A  slight  paralysis  of  the 
cords,  and  especially  of  the  left  cord,  is  present, 
which  is  shown  in  the  laryngoscopic  image  by  an 
inability  of  the  cords  to  meet  in  the  median  line. 
When  it  is  possible  to  gain  insight  into  the 
trachea,  its  lining  mucous  membrane  is  found  to 
be  congested  and  thickened,  as  is  the  case  with 
that  of  the  larynx  and  pharynx. 

These  are  the  conditions  of  the  parts  in  typical 
cases  of  this  disease;  but,  of  course,  all  the  symp- 
toms may  be  aggravated  in  severe  cases,  where, 
sometimes,  the  ulcerations  extend  into  the  trachea 
and  up  into  the  nasal  cavities,  involving  the  Eu- 


158  APPENDIX. 

stachean  tubes  and  the  middle  ear  in  a  general 
sub-acute  inflammation. 

The  patient,  like  most  writers  on  this  subject, 
gives  as  the  cause  of  the  disorder  some  exposure 
to  a  cold  draught  of  air  while  using  his  voice  or 
immediately  after.  Sometimes,  however,  he  is 
not  able  to  refer  the  beginning  of  the  trouble  to 
any  particular  time  or  exposure,  but  describes  it 
as  having  come  on  gradually.  The  latter  is,  as 
will  be  seen,  the  correct  statement  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  disease,  for,  the  predisposition  existing,  the 
slightest  cause  suffices  to  develop  the  symptoms. 

The  real  cause,  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
the  disease,  and  which  the  physician  has  to  re- 
move in  order  to  eifect  a  permanent  cure,  consists 
not,  as  many  suppose,  in  a  long-continued  use  of 
the  vocal  organs,  but  in  a  faulty  way  of  using 
them.  The  voice,  rightly  managed,  may  be  used 
in  speaking  or  singing  all  day  long  without 
any  other  consequence  than  a  feeling  of  bodily 
fatigue. 

In  this  volume,  as  well  as  in  "The  Voice  in 
Singing,"  the  divisions  of  the  human  voice  into 
registers,  and  their  mechanism  and  extent,  have 
been  fully  explained,  and  it  is  therefore  not  neces- 


CLERGYMAN'S  SORE  THROAT.  159 

sary  to  dwell  here  upon  these  facts.  Taking  it 
for  granted  that  they  are  fully  and  clearly  under- 
stood, I  proceed  at  once  to  the  consideration  of 
the  cause  of  the  so-called  "clergyman's  sore 
throat." 

Men  speaking  correctly  use  the  first  and  rarely  V 
the  second   series  of  the   chest   register,  women   \ 
and  children  mostly  the  second  chest  and  the  first 
falsetto  register. 

The  action  of  the  first  series  of  the  chest  regis- 
ter, it  will  be  recollected,  consists  in  setting  the 
vocal  cords  into  full  and  loose  vibrations,  and  in 
dilating  the  trachea  by  means  of  the  pressure  of 
the  air  from  the  lungs  while  the  arytenoid  carti- 
lages move  to  and  fro. 

The  trachea  can,  however,  be  dilated  in  its 
transverse  axis  by  compressing  it  in  its  longitu- 
dinal axis,  which  is  effected  by  the  large  muscles 
of  the  neck,  as  will  be  understood  by  referring  to 
the  drawing  of  a  dissected  neck. 

This  dilating  of  the  trachea  by  muscular  effort 
is  what  is  done  by  most  public  speakers.  The 
result  of  it  is,  that  the  larynx  is  drawn  forcibly 
down  and  compressed,  and  so  its  relation  to  the 
cavity  of  the  mouth  is  altered  and  the  free  ac- 


160 


AI'PEXIHX. 


1.  Trachea,  g.  Thyroid  Cartilage.  3.  Sternum.  4.  Lower  Jaw.  5.  Thy- 
roid Gland.  6.  Crico-Thyroid  Muscle.  7.  Hyoid  Bone.  8.  Sterno-Thyroid 
Muscle.  9.  First  Rib.  10.  Hyoglossus  Muscle.  11.  Genioglossiis.  12.  Trans- 
versus  Colli  Muscle  (exceptional).  (Lusc/ika,  "  Anatomy  of  Larynx.") 


CLERGYMAN'S  SORE   THROAT.  \Q\ 

tion  of  the  small  muscles  of  the  larynx  pre- 
vented. Consequently  there  is  a  straining  of  the 
tensor  muscles  of  the  larynx  to  keep  the  vocal 
cords  stretched  tightly  enough  for  the  required 
pitch.  In  order  to  assist  those  muscles  in  their 
hard  task,  an  additional  pressure  is  put  by  the 
expiratory  muscles  upon  the  air  contained  in  the 
lungs,  which  presses  upon  the  vocal  cords,  and, 
besides  setting  them  into  vibration,  renders  them 
at  the  same  time  more  tense.  This  can  easily  be 
observed  in  the  mirror,  and  the  effect  of  the  un- 
due pressure  upon  the  delicate  white  bands  shows 
itself  in  the  shape  of  a  faint  red  line  along  the 
edges,  which  gradually  extends  over  their  whole 
surface  if  the  strain  is  kept  up,  indicating  a  con- 
gestion of  the  parts.  It  disappears  again,  how- 
ever, when  they  are  rested.  The  undue  amount 
of  breath  used,  in  escaping  through  the  glottis' 
with  considerable  force,  produces  a  friction  sound, 
or  slight  rattling,  by  setting  the  various  folds  of 
mucous  membrane  in  the  mouth  and  the  uvula 
into  irregular  vibrations. 

The  Germans  use  the  expression  "Straw  bass" 
to  designate  this  peculiar  way  of  speaking  or 
singing.  The  noise  accompanying  the  voice, bears 


162  APPENDIX. 

a  striking  resemblance  to  that  made  by  loose  straw 
falling  upon  a  hard  surface. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  when  the 
strain  is  kept  up  frequently  for  a  considerable 
time  the  congestion  does  not  disappear,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  is  increased  to  a  sub-acute  inflammation, 
which  gradually  extends  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  mucous  membrane  lining  the  larynx  and 
pharynx,  and  that  a  change  in  the  nutrition  of  the 
parts  takes  place. 

In  the  treatment  of  this  disease  two  steps  are 
to  be  taken :  first,  the  medicinal  and  topical ; 
and  second,  the  gymnastics  of  the  voice. 

The  medicinal  part  of  the  treatment  consists  in 
touching  the  ulcers  and  enlarged  follicles  with  a 
solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  from  twenty  to  eighty 
grains  to  an  ounce  of  water,  or  with  some  astrin- 
gent solution,  according  to  the  state  of  the  inflam- 
mation. Ulcers  in  the  trachea  are  very  difficult 
to  reach,  and  therefore  powdered  alum  or  tannic 
acid  with  gum  arabic  may  be  blown  into  the 
trachea,  the  amount  of  the  powder,  however,  not 
exceeding  ten  grains.  The  touching  is  most  easily 
effected  with  a  fine  camePs-hair  brush  mounted  on 
a  silver  wire  or  probe,  which  must  be  bent  at  the 


CLERGYMAN'S  SORE   THROAT.  IQ% 

angle  required  to  reach  the  spot.  In  these  oper- 
ations the  laryngoscope  is  indispensable,  as  only 
the  ulcers  and  follicles  should  be  touched.  A  gen- 
eral swabbing  of  the  throat,  so  commonly  prac- 
tised, should  be  abstained  from,  as  an  operation  not 
only  disagreeable  and  painful  but  also  doing  more 
harm  than  good.  In  order  to  relieve  the  dryness 
of  the  pharynx,  inhalations  of  tar-water,  tincture 
of  benzoin,  balsam  of  Tolu,  and  remedies  of  this 
class  may  be  administered  by  means  of  the  steam 
atomizer,  or,  better  still,  by  an  inhaling-bottle,  as 
these  substances  tend  to  clog  the  fine  opening  of 
the  atomizer  tube. 

The  paralysis,  if  such  exists  in  the  cords,  gen- 
erally disappears  with  the  other  symptoms ;  if  not, 
the  application,  internally,  of  an  induced  current 
of  electricity  of  moderate  strength  will  remove 
this  difficulty  also. 

As  soon  as  the  parts  begin  to  assume  a  healthier 
appearance,  the  gymnastics  of  the  voice  should  be 
begun,  and  the  patient  should  be  practised  in 
using  his  voice  according  to  the  natural  laws  laid 
down  in  this  work  and  in  "  The  Voice  in  Sing- 
ing," selecting  for  practice  such  words  and  sylla- 
bles as  are  most  suitable  to  the  case. 


164  APPENDIX. 

No  strict  rules  can  be  given,  as,  in  every  case, 
the  injury  to  the  voice  is  accompanied  by  some 
peculiar  fault  in  speaking.  The  course  which  I 
have  found  most  efficient  is  to  teach  the  patient, 
with  the  aid  of  a  piano,  and  for  a  few  minutes 
only  at  a  time,  to  sing  and  speak  in  the  natural 
divisions  of  the  voice,  using  as  little  breath  as 
possible.  As  soon  as  he  has  attained  any  cer- 
tainty in  the  proper  use  of  the  registers,  he  is 
required  to  read  aloud  or  recite  some  verses; 
every  word  which  he  does  not  pronounce  properly 
being  corrected,  those  consonants  and  vowels  are 
selected  for  practice  at  home  in  the  pronunciation 
of  which  he  is  most  deficient.  This  must,  how- 
ever, not  be  continued  too  long  at  a  time :  from 
five  to  ten  minutes  will  be  sufficient  at  first. 

The  length  of  time  required  until  the  patient  is 
able  to  speak  correctly,  without  falling  back  into 
his  old  habits,  depends  greatly  upon  his  fidelity 
and  application  in  acquiring  this,  to  him,  new 
mode  of  speaking.  Time  only  is  needed  to  effect 
a  permanent  cure. 

C.  SEILER,  M.D. 


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